


Full Circle

by luckandillusions



Category: Glee
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-04
Updated: 2013-07-04
Packaged: 2017-11-11 09:38:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 28,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/477138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luckandillusions/pseuds/luckandillusions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhea Wilson has upended her life more than once, but this time she's going back to where it all started, Lima. But she isn't returning empty handed, she's bringing back two years of performing arts training and a secret. Rhea finds that Lima isn't quite as sleepy as she remembers it, and she's not the only person in her family with something to hide.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Rhea Wilson walked into William McKinley High School for the first time in three years. Her brown hair was all messed up from the wind outside and she started brushing it out automatically since the pieces of purple were more visible now. She grabbed the folded schedule from her pocket and started trying to find her first classroom. She had a meeting with the Principal after lunch but he was busy this morning so she had to find her way around herself. Great…

RPOV

Ugh! This is impossible! I had been walking around for 15 minutes, - thank goodness I got here early, - and was almost positive that this room did not exist…Not to mention the people that were here at their lockers talking all stared at me and I heard whispers of, "Who is she? Do you know her?" "She just looks so familiar!" and other comments like that.

I wasn't quite ready for everyone to know who I was yet, so I turned and ducked into the first classroom on my right. I'd just have to ask a teacher. As soon as I walked into the room I ran into one of the reasons I didn't want anyone to see me. And I literally ran into him.

"Oh crap! I'm sorry, let me help you up." I was hoping that if I didn't look at him he wouldn't recognize me. "You're the new girl, right?" I looked up at him quickly, surprised everyone was already talking about me. That was definitely a mistake. "Rhea?" I looked at him dumbly; I had no idea what to say. There was no denying who I was now; we had known each other since we were little kids.

"Hey Finn…" I said sorta awkwardly. "Umm, what's up?" How lame was that…

"I haven't seen you since the last day of eighth grade! Where'd you go? You just kinda up and left. We all tried calling your house and you mom's cell but no one every answered. I've missed you." I instantly felt horrible for trying to avoid him.

"I've missed you too!" I said, giving him a hug. "As for the where I was question, New York City. At LaGuardia to be exact…."

"Wow—that's just—wow…I forgot how great of a voice you had."

"Yeah, well, they thought so too. My mom got me an audition since she knows people up there and when I got in we moved."

"Then why'd you come back Re? This whole town is full of losers and you finally got out."

"It's—it's a long story." He nodded, understanding that I wasn't ready to talk about it yet*. That's the way it had always been between Finn and I before I left; he just got me "And Finn you're not a loser and you never have been." He gave me a look that said, "Yeah right."

"Come on, I'll walk you to class. You seem lost." I laughed and put his arm around my shoulder as we walked out of the classroom.

We paused outside a room, which—what do you know?—was the room that didn't exist. "Lunch?" I asked.

"Of course. Everyone is going to be happy to see you." I smiled weakly at him, hoping he wouldn't notice. I wasn't so thrilled to see everyone, specifically one of them. I turned and walked into class. Spanish class. Yuck.

The teacher was late…well, at least I don't have to deal with Spanish on top of everything else right this second…Crap I spoke too soon the door is opening and up that's a teacher…sigh…I hate Spanish…

Our teacher had his back to us when he came in but I coulda sworn he looked really really familiar. The he turned around to look at us. "Mr. Schue!" he turned and looked at me as did the rest of my Spanish class.

"Rhea Wilson? Wow, it's been a long time. You were little last time I saw you. Is your hair purple?" I nodded

"I dyed it last month…How's Terri?" He looked uncomfortable. "Oh…sorry…" He and Terri had never really gotten along when I used to live here; they used to babysit me because my mom went to high school with the two of them. She was actually in Glee with Mr. Schue.

OoOoOFlashbackOoOoO

I was almost twelve and my mom still thought I couldn't take care of myself even with Mrs. Annoying and Mr. Schuester down the hall. I had to actually go stay with them and Mrs. Annoying was trying to get me to clean her house! Seriously!

"Oh, but I've had such a long day at the office and I still need to make dinner and…" I tuned her out. No way was I cleaning her house and did she really just call Sheets N' Things the office?

She is insane!

OoOoO

We were talking about stuff and I started telling him about LaGuardia and then he asked me to join Glee and I was trying to decide did I really want to get back into that? My life was finally back to normal. No performances and no super busy schedules. Then the bell rang…"Well, I'll see you at Glee practice this afternoon Rhea!"

Well, I guess that decision just got made for me…

I walked out to my next class, Biology, which went by uneventfully and then I had a study period and so I went to the room where me and Finn had run into each other it had seemed pretty empty.

I opened the door and walked in and saw three of my old friends and one guy I didn't know. Mercedes and Tina jumped up and attacked me and Artie tried wheeling my way. The fourth guy looked confused as they had obliviously been in the middle of a conversation…

"'Cedes! Tina! Artie! Can't…breathe…Mercedes…" Mercedes finally let me go and I hugged Tina and leaned down to hug Artie too.

"I love your hair!" Tina said.

"Thanks T; I love your hair too! When did you add the streaks?" I asked.

"I don't know, a while ago," she shrugged. Mercedes turned me around.

"Where in the world have you been, girl? It is seriously not cool for you to jet off to New York and stop calling me after a few months!" she always has been a diva but she did have a point…

"I'm so sorry. Stuff happened and I just really didn't want you guys dragged into it all and so—" I didn't get to finish…

"Aw hell to the naw you are not gonna pull some, 'I didn't want you guys involved' bull; it's not going to work with me!" D.I.V.A! I shot her a look that said, "We'll talk about it later."

"Is someone going to introduce me to the very fashionably dressed girl that you're yelling at?" the guy I didn't know said, saving me from Miss Diva.

"Rhea, Kurt. Kurt, Rhea. You're introduced. Re, don't you dare tell me, 'We'll talk about this later' because we won't. I know you." Sigh…

"Seriously Mercedes we will talk about this. Later. I need to deal with it myself first before I tell everyone else. Okay?" she must've heard how serious I was because she shut up. Then the bell rang. Great, just what I needed the drama of Mercedes times Cheerios and him.

I walked with the girls to the cafeteria and then to the table where I saw my three old best friends. I almost ran, but I didn't want to freak out everyone who was eating so I just walked faster. The first one I hugged was Brittany "Brit! I haven't seen you in forever I love the uniform but your hair really looks better down!" I said, instantly jumping back into best friend mode. Then someone came up behind me and picked up my hair and shrieked. Like, really shrieked. Loud.

"What happened to your hair?" Quinn asked freaking out. "How are you going to be a Cheerio with this—this—stuff on it?"

I laughed. "I'm not going to be a Cheerio, Quinn." She stared at me.

"But you've always wanted to be a Cheerio. You, me, Britney, and Santana were supposed to be Cheerios together."

"That was a long time ago. Cheering and I aren't really into each other these days. LaGuardia changed me. Speaking of Cheerios, where's your uniform?"

"Who's LaGuardia?" Britney said from behind me. I ignored her and looked at Quinn.

"If you had been here for the last three years instead of ditching us, your best friends, you'd know." She turned around and ran out of the Cafeteria. If I didn't know her better I'd think she might've been crying.

"Umm, what's her problem?" I asked, feeling kinda stupid for not knowing what the hell just happened.

"She was dating Finn, Puck got her knocked up, and Sue kicked her off the Cheerios." Aw crap, I really wish someone had thought to tell me this before I said what I said to Quinn.

I was about to turn and say something to Santana, but then I heard another familiar voice. Thankfully not the one I was dreading, but it was close.

"Miss Wilson, back from the Big Apple I see? Here to join Cheerios?"

"Umm actually—" and I got cut off again.

"Your hair is perfect; exactly what we need to make the head cheerleader stand out from the rest. Miss Wilson, you're on the team. Stop by my office to pick up the uniform after school today." She turned to leave.

"But I'm the head cheerleader! You can't just make her head cheerleader because of her hair!" Santana said while standing up.

"Well actually, I can and I suggest you sit down if you want to be on the Cheerios at all." Sue said and walked off. I sat down across from Santana, not really sure what to say, and then I remembered something from when we were little kids.

OoOoO

I was running around the neighborhood with Santana and Britney until I tripped. Santana and Britney fell down laughing and we were all rolling around on the ground laughing and I couldn't really breathe.

"Tana. I can't breathe," I mumbled. Maybe I'll just lay here and go to sleep. Sounds good to me. It's all nice and warm out here today perfect day to just fall asleep in the grass.

"Re?" someone said, poking me with a stick."Is she dead?" that was obviously Britney and I woke up enough to realize that Santana was poking me with a stick.

"Stop poking me Tana!" I said, not opening my eyes

"Why are you calling me Tana?" Santana asked and poked me again.

"'Cause I want to," I yawned again. "Go away."

"Nope. Get up."

"Ugh, Tana," I said, getting up.

"I think you hit your head 'cause you know I don't like nicknames."

"If she can call you Tana can I call you Santa?" Britney asked.

"No Britney you cannot call me Santa!" Santana said glaring at Brittany.

"Well you just deal with Tana 'cause that's what I'm calling you from now on till forever!" I said, laughing and running off, resuming the laughing and chasing game…

OoOoO

"Tana, I'm sorry. I really didn't want to be a Cheerio, especially not head cheerleader. I'll tell Sue I'm not joining the team if you want me too. Tana, don't be mad at me." Santana looked up at me and smiled a tiny smile—but at least she smiled.

"You know how Sue is. There's no way she's letting you go without a fight; and purple hair won't look good on me. Take the spot. You should get it. You were always first in command when we were kids and if you hadn't left the spot would already be yours so just take it." I looked at her and was about to say something until I realized that yet again, a decision had been made for me.

"Hey Re!" it was Finn. I turned around smiling and then I saw him walking with Finn. I think I almost fainted.

"Hey Princess," he said with a smile.

"Hey Noah," I said, not returning his smile.

"Come on, it's been a long time. Don't I even get a hug?" I only hugged him 'cause it would look suspicious if I didn't.

"Not nearly as long as they think," I whispered in his ear. And he smirked and oh, that made me want to slap him, but I wasn't about to explain to everyone why I was slapping him so I didn't.

"I'll go grab you some food Princess, unless you already ate?" he said when I started to sit down.

"I'm perfectly capable of getting my own food Noah." He shrugged and walked up to the food line. The truth was that I really did want some food but no way was I about to get in line with him.

OoOoO

It was the first Spring Break I had up in New York, but me and my friends were doing the same things we had done over Fall break and Winter break: go see shows and act like tourists. We were at theRichard Rodgers Theatre getting ready to seeIn The Heights, one of the only Broadway shows I hadn't seen, when I saw a very familiar hairstyle.

"Puck?" I said not too loud but he heard me anyway and turned around.

"Rhea! Hey! I haven't seen you in forever. You live up here now, right?" I nodded.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Looking for you, actually."

I laughed "Are you stalking me or something? How'd you know I'd be at this show?"

"Actually, I kinda wanted to see it myself…Don't tell the guys…Even Finn probably wouldn't approve of me going to see a musical no matter how much rapping it has in it." I laughed again.

"Do you want to hang out with me and my LaGuardia friends after the show?"

"Yeah, that sounds cool."

"Okay, meet us out front afterwards."

He smiled. "See you later Princess."

I blushed at my childhood nickname and hurried off. "Who was that hottie you were talking to?" my friend Charlotte asked me when I went back over to where they were sitting.

"His name's Puck. He went to school with me back in Lima."

"Does he have a girlfriend?" Char asked, instantly interested.

"Not that I know of, but I haven't seen him in almost a year."

"Well, can you find out for me? Unless you like him?"

"I'm still with Finn…" I said uncertainly.

"Sure." She snorted. "Even if you actually wanted that to be true, which we all know you don't, you're never going back to Lima, Ohio. You're way too far out of his league." She looked at me, waiting for me to comment and when I didn't she smiled. "See what I mean? You should consider Mohawk Boy. He may be from Lima but it doesn't look like he's going to be a Lima Loser for long…

OoOoO


	2. Chapter 2

My last two classes blew by pretty quickly and it was time for Glee practice. I still needed to stop by Sue's office so I decided to stop there first. "Ms. Sylvester?"

"Miss Wilson, how nice of you to stop by on your way to Glee club." She said 'Glee club' the same way you would say 'dog poo.'

"Brittany and Santana are in it too," I said.

"Because they're my spies; I put them there."

"Well, I'm not going to spy for you," I said matter-of-factly. "Kick me off the Cheerios if you want."

She stared at me for a second. "Take your uniform and go," she said finally, pointing out the door. I guess I wasn't getting kicked off the team. I grabbed my uniform and walked to the choir room, all the while wondering what her problem was…

"There you are girl, we were about to send out a search team," Mercedes said when I walked in. I sat down next to her, not knowing if Quinn was still mad at me or not.

"I had to stop and get my uniform," I said.

She made a face. "Ew."

"Ok guys, we have a new member joining us today," Mr. Shue said while walking in. "I know a lot of you already know her, but this is Rhea Wilson." He motioned for me to come up and stand next to him. I looked at the Glee Club, there was only one girl I didn't know and she looked vaguely familiar. "Well, we pretty much let anyone in who wants to join but if you want to sing today, that'd be cool."

"I don't have anything prepared," I said.

"Come on, you've got something," Mr. Shue prodded me. He was always trying to get me to sing more, even way back when before the Glee club

OoOoOoOFlashbackOoOoOoO

"Will, can you go watch her? She's too quiet. It's scary." I heard Terri tell Will in the next room.

"Rhea? Quiet?"

"I'm serious. I don't think she likes me."

"She's probably just tired..." Will said. I laughed. Will and Terri walked into the living room.

"Hey Rhea, want to sing?"

"No, "I said looking at Terri. Last time I sang around her, she told me to shut up.

"Fine. I can tell I'm not wanted," she said, stomping off.

"Ok!"I said happily. I always wanted to sing; it was my favorite thing to do. My parents had both been in Glee Club with Will when they were in high school and singing seemed to have rubbed off on me. "Play the music!" I said.

OoOoOoOEndFlashbackOoOoOoO

"Fine," I said. I told the piano guy what song I wanted to sing and he nodded.

"They say life is so much sweeter  
through the telephoto lens of fame  
around here you get just as much attention  
cheering' at the high school football game

I dreamed of going to Nashville  
Put my money down and placed my bet  
but I just got the first buck of the season  
I made the front page of the Turner town Gazette"

I was starting to get into the song, which described Lima almost perfectly, in my opinion.

"Every last one, route one, rural hearts got a story to tell  
Every grandma, in law, ex girlfriend  
Maybe knows it just a little too well  
Whether you're late for church or you're stuck in jail  
Hey words gonna get around  
Everybody dies famous in a small town"

"So true." Santana said.

"Tyler and Casey broke up  
It ended pretty quietly  
We heard he was caught red-handed with her mama  
So that's just what they let us all believe"

Santana, Brittany and Quinn jumped up and started singing with me.

"Every last one, route one, rural hearts got a story to tell  
Every grandma, in law, ex girlfriend  
Maybe knows it just a little too well  
Whether you're late for church or you're stuck in jail  
Hey words gonna get around  
Everybody dies famous in a small town

Baby who  
needs their faces in a magazine  
Me and you  
We've been stars of the town since we were seventeen

Let's go on down to the quick stop  
Wear your yellow shades  
And I'll put on my tight jeans  
And we'll just spend the weekend burning rubber  
And we'll let 'em point and stare in disbelief

Every last one, route one, rural hearts got a story to tell  
Every grandma, in law, ex girlfriend  
Maybe knows it just a little too well  
Whether you're late for church or you're stuck in jail  
Hey words gonna get around  
Everybody dies famous in a small-town  
Everybody dies famous in a small town"

The girls and I collapsed in on each other laughing.

"Do you remember when you used to play American Idol?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah! We would all end up jumping around on your trampoline and sing and dance like crazy people," I said laughing.

"Yeah, and Quinn would always act mad because no one was following the rules, but we'd eventually get her up and dancing," Santana added.

"I missed you!" Brittany said, hugging me. Quinn and Santana hug-attacked me too and they all ended up falling down on top of me.

"Ok girls, get up," Mr. Shue said, amused. "I have another assignment for you guys. We are going to do duets. But I'm going to choose your partners and you get to pick the song—but it has to be an older country song."

"Oh hell naw! I do not do country music," Mercedes said unhappily.

"It's a chance to learn something new," Mr. Shue said.

"That's ok, I'll sit out on this one," she said.

"You can't. I've already picked your pairs," he said. Mercedes groaned. "Ok, Mercedes you're with Finn, Kurt is with Brittany, Artie's with Santana, Quinn and Mike, Rachel and Tina, and that puts Rhea with Puck." My head snapped up. "Is that alright?" He asked, looking at me funny.

"Um yeah. That's cool." I looked at Puck. He smiled; it looked more genuine than his typical smirk, and I felt bad.

"Ok then. You guys can use the rest of the time to work with your partners on your songs."

I reluctantly moved over to sit with Noah; I purposely left two chairs in between us.

"So any ideas?" I asked.

"Does the song have to already be a duet?" he asked.

"I don't think so," I said cautiously, wondering what he had in mind.

"There's that song something about walking…? By that lady that died?"

"Alot of old country singers are dead…" I said.

""Walking after Midnight"? Yeah, that's it," he said.

"By Patsy Cline?"

"Yeah, that's her. She died in a plane crash or something, I think."

"Yeah…"I said."Why?"

"Why what?" he asked.

"Well, it doesn't really seem like something you'd suggest."

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"Ok…well, I'll work on the arrangement tonight and I'll give it to you tomorrow."

"You could come over," he suggested.

I hesitated for a second. "I don't think that's a good idea," I said.

"Just to work on the song. Purely business."

"Well…ok."

"We can take my car and I can bring you back here after," Noah said.

"I'll just follow you," I said. I didn't want to deal with any awkward silence during the car ride.

"Okay…"

"Yeah."

I pulled up outside Noah's house. It was the same place he had lived in ever since I had known him. I walked inside, his mom was sitting on the couch and she jumped up when I came in. "Rhea!"

"Hi, Mrs. Puckerman." I gave her a hug.

"When did you get back in town?"

"Last week."

"And you didn't come by?" I looked over her shoulder at Puck.

"I've been really busy since I got home."

"Well, I'm glad you and your mom are back."

"Me too," I said, not totally lying.

"Well, I'll let you two get to work."

"It was good to see you," I told her.

"You too sweetie." She patted me on my back. I had always loved Noah's mom. She was super nice even though I wasn't Jewish.

"Come on," Noah said.

"Coming," I mumbled. I followed him back down the hall to his room and sat down on his bed.

"Ok, how do you want to do this?"

"Well, pull up the song lyrics and I'll work on the arrangement. You can do whatever…"

"I want to help."

"I've got it, really."

"Whatever," he said and pointed me towards his computer. I got on and looked up the lyrics.

I had been working on some different things for a while when Noah said, "Why did you come back?"

"I don't know," I said. "I guess I missed it here. And mom wanted to move back. I don't even know why mom moved us off in the first place."

"We are going to have to talk about it sometime," he said.

"No, we don't."

"Rhea, you can't just pretend it didn't happen."

"Oh it definitely happened, and I'm never going to be able to forget it."I stood up, "I'll bring this to school tomorrow." I walked out.

"Rhea, wait!" I heard Noah say as I ran out of his house. I didn't want him to see me cry.


	3. Chapter 3

PuckPOV

OoOoOFlashbackOoOoO

Rhea laughed, it sounded like bells. "How long are you going to be in town?" She asked.

"Just a week, I'm only here for spring break," I told her.

"Oh that's cool. Where are you staying?"

"I have a cousin that lives up here, in SoHo on Elizabeth St."

"Oh my gosh! That's where I live!" Rhea exclaimed. "We have to hang out!"

"That's the reason I'm here."

OoOoO

Rhea and I had agreed to meet in the commons area in the middle of the apartment. I saw her from a distance her hair being blown by the wind, she looked so beautiful. I wonder why I've never noticed that before, sure we've always been friends but its different now.

"Hey, Noah!" she called, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Hey princess," I said.

"You know you are the only person who still calls me that, right?"."

"I know," I laughed.

"So what do you want to do today?" She asked.

"I don't care as long as I'm with you."

Rhea blushed. "Well we could catch the subway and go to the Met," she suggested.

"Sounds ok with me," I told her.

OoOoO

We had been hanging out in the city all day. Around five we met up with a few of her friends from school for dinner.

"So what's it like in Lima?" One girl asked me, I think she said her name was Sydney.

"It's pretty boring. Just your typical suburban town," I told her.

"I've never lived in a suburb," Another girl, whose name I believe was Olivia, said.

"It's just like here but smaller and less sophisticated," Rhea's best friend, Charlotte, said. Charlotte was hot but she definitely seemed like a bitch. Not that I wasn't into that. Santana was a bitch too but we had 'dated' occasionally.

"It's not that bad. It's just different from here," Rhea said. "Just because we're from a small town doesn't mean we're all losers."

"Yeah some of you aren't," Char smiled, her eyes darting towards me. I had a feeling they'd had this conversation before.

"So do you like farm and stuff?" Sydney asked.

"Ew, that's gross," Olivia making a face.

"God you two are so stupid," Charlotte said rolling her eyes.

"Bitch," Olivia mumbled.

"Skank," Charlotte snapped back.

"I think we should get going," Rhea said standing up.

"Whatever you say Princess," I smiled thankful to get out of there.

"Bye Char," Rhea said waving.

"Bye girly," Charlotte said smiling. I followed Rhea outside.

"I was about to go crazy in there. No offense to you," I told Rhea once we were outside.

"No worries, they drive me crazy too."

"Why do you hang out with them?"

"They remind me a lot of Santana, Britney and Quinn actually," She said smiling.

"If those girls remind you of the girls back in Lima you really need to come home," I laughed.

"I probably do," She laughed.

"We all miss you."

"I miss all of ya'll too." She looked so sad and I reached down and grabbed her hand.

We had gotten back to Rhea and my cousin's apartment complex and she pulled me through the building and to the basketball courts in the courtyard on the other side. "Sing to me," She commanded.

"What do you want me to sing?" I asked.

"Anything." She lay down on the ground and looked up at the stars. "Well...?"

"We should get jerseys cause we make a good team  
But yours would look better than mine, cause you're outta my league  
And I know that it's so cliché to tell you that every day  
I spend with you is the new best day of my life  
Everyone watching us just turns away with disgust  
It's Jealously, they can see that we've got it going on

And I'm racking my brain for a new improved way  
To let you know your more to me than what I know how to say  
You're OK with the way this is going to be  
This is going to be the best thing we've ever seen

If anyone can make me a better person you could  
All I gotta say is I must've done something good  
I came along one day and you rearranged my life  
All I gotta say is I must've done something right  
I must've done something right

Maybe I'm just lucky cause it's hard to believe  
Believe that somebody like you'd end up with someone like me  
And I know that it's so cliché to talk about you this way  
But I'll push all my inhibitions aside  
It's so very obvious to everyone watching us  
That we have got something real good going on

And I'm racking my brain for a new improved way  
To let you know your more to me than what I know how to say  
You're OK with the way this is going to be  
This is going to be the best thing we've ever seen

If anyone can make me a better person you could  
All I gotta say is I must've done something good  
I came along one day and you rearranged my life  
All I gotta say is I must've done something right  
I must've done something right"

I looked down at Rhea. She was smiling up at me. "You're really good."

"I'm Lima good, not New York good."

"I've met a lot of people here and you are definitely New York good."

"Really Princess?"

"Really." She paused for a second, starring at the sky. "Were you singing about anyone in particular?" She looked at me hopefully.

"Um no," I said lamely, not wanting to admit it was the first song I thought about wanting to sing to her. Her face fell. "I mean, unless you want it to be."

"Um no, that's ok."

"Finn is dating Quinn," I said before I could think about what I was saying.

"Oh."

"You didn't think you two were still…"

"No. Of course not. I haven't talked to him since I moved here. I told Char I was dating him just so she'd lay off about me needing a guy. It's just I never thought Quinn and Finn would get together. She used to pick on him in elementary school remember?"

"Yeah, you two would get into so many arguments because you thought he was cute and she thought he was gross," I said remembering the old days when we were all cute little kids and best friends.

"Remember when Santana dared me to kiss you behind the big oak tree in her back yard?" She asked sitting up.

"And you were too scared to do it, so you closed your eyes and I kissed you? Yeah I remember."

"It was my first kiss," Rhea said twirling a piece of hair around her finger.

"Really?"

"Yeah. You know I'm not too scared now. If you wanted to try again."

"Do you want me to?" I asked.

"Yes."

"You know I'd do anything for you Princess." She leaned towards me and put her arms around my neck and pushed me back onto the ground. I looked into her eyes before rolling her over and kissing her.

We both started laughing at the same time and I rolled off her looking up at the stars my fingers intertwined with hers.

OoOoO

The rest of the week was amazing. Rhea and I spent every waking moment with each other and I could tell she was really falling for me. I wanted to tell her that the reason I came to New York was because I realized when she left that I was in love with her but I was too scared. I had one day left and we were sitting on the balcony and I had my arm around her. She looked up at me. I leaned down and kissed her.

"God, I don't want you to leave," She said when I had pulled away.

"I don't want to leave either. I'll miss you."

"You could stay," She said.

"I'd love to but you know I can't leave my mom." I said sadly. If only Rhea knew how much I really wanted to stay.

"Yeah I know. Let's go inside, it's getting chilly out." We walked back to her bed room. Her mom was out as it seemed like she always was and we had the apartment to ourselves. I jumped on her bed and stretched out. She leaped on top of me and we were rolling around on her bed kissing and laughing.

I hadn't realized we were slowing undressing each other till I was in my boxers. She was still kissing me. "Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked.

"Yeah."

OoOoO

The next morning I woke up in Rhea's room, she was gone."Princess?" I called. There was a long pause.

"In here!" I heard her say from the bathroom. She came in to the room wearing my shirt.

"Hi." I smiled at her.

"Hi," She said laughing it seemed different than all her other laughs, more forced.

"You want to go get something to eat?" I asked getting up and pulling on my jeans. She had started putting on her own clothes and handed me my shirt back.

"I think I have eggs and bacon in the fridge. I'll make something." She disappeared down the hall as I finished getting dressed. I stopped by the bathroom and checked myself in the mirror. "How do you like your eggs? Scrambled or sunny side up?" She asked from the kitchen.

"Scrambled." I said walking down the hall towards her. She was flipping the bacon and trying to scramble the eggs, while also grabbing glasses out of the cabinet. I grabbed a cup just as it was about to fall off the shelf.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"Anything I can do to help?" I asked.

"There's juice in the fridge."

I poured two cups and she scooped out the eggs and pulled out pieces of bacon. "Are you ok?" I asked.

"Me? Yeah I'm fine."

"Alright Princess."

OoOoO

After we ate we walked towards my cousin's apartment and she helped me pack then she walked me down to the main lobby.

"I'll miss you."

"Yeah I'll miss you too," she said. I pulled her close to me and kissed her.

"I love you," I said quietly.

"I-" She started to speak and then stopped looking at me. I looked at her trying to read her eyes. She looked so conflicted. Finally she opened her mouth, "I'm sorry." It was barely more than a whisper but I heard it loud and clear.

She turned around and ran back towards the elevator. She looked over her shoulder at me and I saw a tear fall down her cheek before she wiped it away and turned her back on me.


	4. Chapter 4

RheaPOV

"Mr. Schue?" Rachel ran down towards him when he came into the room.

"Yes, Rachel?"

"Tina has the flu and so I didn't have a partner and so Finn got Sam from the football team to come sing with me. Is that alright?"

"Of course it's alright. We always need more people to be in Glee Club," Mr. Schue told her.

"Ok well the song I chose is Island in the Stream by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, one of the most famous country duets of all time. And Sam is from the South, so this will be good."

I rolled my eyes as Rachel and Sam took there spots on the floor.

"Baby, when I met you there was peace unknown  
I set out to get you with a fine tooth comb  
I was soft inside, there was somethin' going on"

Sam actually was a pretty good singer, I was surprised. Then Rachel joined him singing.

"You do something to me that I can't explain  
Hold me closer and I feel no pain  
Every beat of my heart  
We got somethin' goin' on

"Tender love is blind  
It requires a dedication  
All this love we feel  
Needs no conversation  
We ride it together, ah-ah  
Makin' love with each other, ah-ah

"Islands in the stream  
That is what we are  
No one in-between  
How can we be wrong  
Sail away with me to another world  
And we rely on each other, ah-ah  
From one lover to another, ah-ah"

Then Rachel got her own time to sing.

"I can't live without you if the love was gone  
Everything is nothin' if you got no one  
And you did walk in tonight  
Slowly loosen' sight of the real thing."

Sam joined her for the rest of the song.

"But that won't happen to us and we got no doubt  
Too deep in love and we got no way out  
And the message is clear  
This could be the year for the real thing"

No more will you cry  
Baby, I will hurt you never  
We start and end as one, in love forever  
We can ride it together, ah-ah  
Makin' love with each other, ah-ah

Islands in the stream  
That is what we are  
No one in-between  
How can we be wrong  
Sail away with me to another world  
And we rely on each other, ah-ah  
From one lover to another, ah-ah

Sail away  
Oh, come sail away with me

Islands in the stream  
That is what we are  
No one in-between  
How can we be wrong  
Sail away with me to another world  
And we rely on each other, ah-ah  
From one lover to another, ah-ah

Islands in the stream  
That is what we are  
No one in-between  
How can we be wrong  
Sail away with me to another world  
And we rely on each other, ah-ah  
From one lover to another, ah-ah"

They finished and I leaned towards Noah "We are going to blow the little diva out of the…stream."

I saw Sam sit down a few chairs from me, "No offense to you, you're actually really good," I said sincerely.

"Thanks."

"Oh we're up!" I said happily

"We've only practiced twice," Puck said.

"Oh come on, you're the one that sung that Relient K song to me without any practice at all. You shouldn't doubt yourself. Unless it's me you doubt, and I did go to a performing arts school. So I'm sure I'm more than capable of a little improv."

"We're good."

"Ok what song did you two choose?" Mr. Schue asked.

"We made 'Walking after Midnight' into a duet," I told him.

"Ok sounds good."

Puck grabbed his guitar and I heard the music started playing and I was in the zone. I started singing,

"I go out walking, after midnight  
Out in the moonlight  
Just like we used to do  
I'm always walking, after midnight  
Searching for you"

Puck joined me,

"I walk for miles, along the highway  
Well that's just my way  
Of saying I love you  
I'm always walking after midnight  
Searching for you"

I took over again,

"I stop to see a weeping willow  
Crying on his pillow  
Maybe he's crying for me  
And as the skies turn gloomy  
Night winds whisper to me  
I'm lonesome as I can be"

Puck joined me again and I started dancing around.

"I go out walking, after midnight  
Out in the moonlight  
Just hoping you may be  
Somewhere a walking after midnight  
Searching for me"

I finished the rest on of the song by myself.

"I stop to see a weeping willow  
Crying on his pillow  
Maybe he's crying for me  
And as the skies turn gloomy  
Night winds whisper to me  
I'm lonesome as I can be

"I go out walking, after midnight  
Out in the moonlight  
Just hoping you may be  
Somewhere a walking after midnight  
Searching for me"

Everyone cheered which made me blush. "I nominate Rhea to be our new soloist," Santana said waving her hand.

"But, Mr. Schue! That position is rightfully mine! I've been the singer since the beginning of this club!" Rachel shouted standing up.

"Whoa, no one is trying to take away your solos Rachel," Mr. Schue assured her.

"I actually was suggesting that," Santana mumbled.

"Maybe we could have Rhea sing some of the solos," Mr. Schue suggested.

"That's alright really, I'm New York bound anyway. With or without the solos," I said.

"I'm New York bound too!" Rachel said. I scoffed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I had something stuck in my throat," I said dryly.

"Rhea-" Mr. Schue started to say something.

"I'm out of here. I'll see you guys tomorrow," I got up and walked out. I got into my little Nissan Cube and drove home. My mom was in the living room when I opened the door.

"Hey honey. You're home early. I thought you had Glee."

"I did."

"Something wrong?"

"Nope." I looked at her for a second. "Why did we move to New York?"

"What do you mean? You wanted to go so I took you."

"But all of a sudden? That quickly? It's sketchy mom."

"I got you an audition to a school you wanted to go to and I took you to it."

"God mom I know you're hiding something just tell me!" I was getting really annoyed with her, I probably shouldn't have yelled but I did. She started crying. "Oh mom I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me, it's alright."

"No, I should tell you. You have the right to know," mom said while she was sniffling. "You remember your dad right?"

"Yeah of course. He was a big war hero, died in Afghanistan when I was five. Right?" I asked.

"Yes that's true about Richard, but he isn't your biological father."

"Huh?" I said staring at her.

"I got pregnant with you in high school you know. I told Richard he was your father because he was my boyfriend. But Will…"

"Will as in Schuester?"

"Yes." She started crying again.

"Does he know?"

"No."

"Holy crap."

"I'm sorry honey."

"No its ok…it's just crazy, but Mr. Schue has acted like my dad since I was little so it's really not that big of a thing."

"You're alright, really?"

"Yeah I'm fine." She hugged me. "Why did we leave? I mean we lived here for fourteen years without any problems."

"Terri found out. She threatened to tell him."

"They aren't even together anymore," I said.

"That's why I wanted to come back. Ever since that friend of yours came up to visit I could tell you wanted to come back to Lima and I wanted to come home too."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"Only if you want me to," she told me.

"Of course I do! Mr. Schue is the coolest old person on the planet! No offense mom…"

"None taken," she said smiling. "Alright you invite him over for dinner Thursday night."

"Ok sounds good."

Thursday night after dinner I excused myself to go the restroom. I stared at myself in the mirror. I tried to tell if I looked like Mr. Schue at all.

My hair was darker brown, like my moms. My eyes were hazel though which was the same color as Mr. Schue's, my mom's were blue. My nose and chin looked exactly like my mother's, "A plastic surgeon's wet dream" Santana had said once.

"Honey?" I heard my mom call.

"Coming!" I yelled. I walked out of the bathroom and down the hallway to where my mom was talking to Mr. Schue. I leaned against the wall and watched. Neither of them noticed I was in the room.

"Wow," was all he said and ran his hands through his hair. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"You're were dating Terri and I didn't want to mess you two up, we were all friends. She's the reason we left town," my mom said.

"Terri is?"

"She figured out. She said if we didn't leave Lima she would tell you. Karen, who does the scrapbooking parties Terri and I used to attend, called me one day and told me the two of you broke up I decided we would come home. Especially after that boy came for a visit, I knew Rhea was dying to come back too. I wasn't going to tell you but Rhea really wanted me too, she just found out Tuesday."

"Wow."

My mom looked up and saw me standing by the wall. "There you are sweetie."

Mr. Schue patted the seat beside him and I sat down. He put his arm around my shoulder and hugged me.

"Mr. Schue, ok it definitely seems weird calling you that now."

"You can call me…whatever feels comfortable."

"I think it's better I keep calling you Mr. Schue. At least until I decide how to tell New Directions…"

"That's probably a good idea."

"Rachel will think I'm getting special treatment," I murmured.

"You really don't like her do you?" He asked.

"No! She's even worse than Mercedes."

"She is dramatic."

"That's the understatement of the year," I said seriously.

Mr. Schue started laughing and I decided everything was going to be alright.


	5. Chapter 5

I had been in Lima for almost two months and things had pretty much settled into a routine, I had even started dating Finn again, until one morning in Spanish class. I was sitting in my usual seat next to Puck saying nothing like usual when a girl walked in. She had her back to us while she talked to Mr. Schue. I still hadn't figured out how to tell my friends that he was my dad and frankly I really didn't think they needed to know, at least not right now.

The girl turned around and both Puck and I gasped. "Isn't that…?" He asked.

I nodded. She walked towards me and sat down behind me. "Hi Rhea." She said in her sickly sweet voice. I turned to face her.

"Charlotte."

"Aren't you going to welcome me to Lima?" She asked.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"Not exactly the welcome I was looking for but I'll take it. I live here." She smiled. She turned to Noah. "Hi Noah."

"Hi." He said. He looked at me and we shared a look of 'what the fuck'.

"Well class as you can see we have a new student back there Miss Charlotte Rays," Mr. Schue said getting out attention.

"Well I know how you all prefer the fun assignments to the things they have in the text book, so today I want all of you to write a paragraph as if you were another person. They can be from a friend's point of view or a celebrity. I'll give you all a few minutes to work then I'll take volunteers to read theirs."

I tried to concentrate on my Haley Williams paragraph but it was really difficult with Charlotte sitting right behind me.

"Alright guys, time is up," Mr. Schue said. "Who wants to go first?"

I could almost see Charlotte's hand fly up.

"Alright, Miss Rays."

She walked up to the front of the class. I wanted to run away immediately. I had no idea what was going to happen but I knew it couldn't be good.

"Me llamo Rhea Wilson. Me encanta cantar y bailar. Todo el Mundo SABE Queyo soy perfecto. Pero tengo un secreto. Uno Que Todo Lo arruinaria. Oh, ¿le he dicho que soy perfecto?" She smiled, "Oh please hold your applause. I know my impression was spot on!"

"Um, that was…well…I guess you know Rhea?" Mr. Schue didn't know what to do. Neither did I. She had just basically threatened to tell everyone about what happened in New York.

"Oh yeah we went to school together in New York," She said happily.

"Well that's great. You already know someone."

"Yeah it's wonderful." She looked straight at me and smiled.

OoOoO

When I closed my locker after school Puck was standing behind. "Do not sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry. I thought you might want a warning, I'm going out with Charlotte," he said.

"What?"

"I had to do something. I figured if I was dating her she might think twice about telling. You think I want that secret to get out any more that you do? I have a reputation and if people know that I've got a soft side it'll be ruined," He told me.

"So you thought the right thing to do was with go out with Charlotte? Really Noah, really?"

"Yes really."

"Why the fuck is she here?"

"I still don't know. I'm going to find out."

"Well as long as you're working as a double agent I guess it'll have to do. Fine date her. Why should I care anyway?" I said sighing.

"Fine."

We walked to the choir room in silence. Charlotte was sitting in the middle of everyone chatting up a storm about all the trouble the two of us had gotten into in New York. "Oh there's my partner in crime. I was just telling them about the time we made Sydney run through Central Park in her underwear. Wasn't that the best?"

"Yeah we did have some good times."

She patted the seats on either sides of her for me and Puck to sit down. We did. Finn came in about then at sat down next to me. I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"Wait! That can't be Finn?" Charlotte said.

"Yeah this is him," I said reluctantly.

"Wow. Nice to meet you. He's cuter than you said Re."

"This is Charlotte. We went to school together in New York. She's living in Lima now," I told Finn.

There was awkward chatter until Mr. Schue walked in. "Hey guys. Today I want to hear someone sing a song that shows off what you're feeling today."

I raised my hand. "I've got a song."

I got up and told the piano guy what I wanted to sing.

"The story starts when it was hot and it was summer  
And, I had it all; I had him right there where I wanted him  
She came along, got him alone, and let's hear the applause  
She took him faster than you can say sabotage  
I never saw it coming, nor did I suspected it  
I underestimated just who I was dealing with  
She had to know the pain was beating on me like a drum  
She underestimated just who she was stealing from

"She's not a saint and she's not what you think  
She's an actress, Whoa  
She's better known for the things that she does  
On the mattress, Whoa  
Soon she's gonna find  
Stealing other people's toys on the playground  
Won't make you many friends  
She should keep in mind,  
She should keep in mind  
There is nothing I do better than revenge"

Santana, who had been glaring at Charlotte at least the entire time I'd been in the room jumped up and started singing the next verse.

"She lives her life like it's a party and she's on the list  
She looks at me like I'm a trend and she's so over it  
I think her ever present frown is a little troubling  
And, she thinks I'm psycho  
Cause I like to rhyme her name with things, but  
Sophistication isn't what you wear, or who you know  
Or pushing people down to get you where you wanna go  
They didn't teach you that in prep school  
So it's up to me  
But no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity"

I joined her on the chorus.

"She's not a saint and she's not what you think  
She's an actress, Whoa  
She's better known for the things that she does  
On the mattress, Whoa  
Soon she's gonna find  
Stealing other people's toys on the playground  
Won't make you many friends  
She should keep in mind,  
She should keep in mind  
There is nothing I do better than revenge"

"I'm just another thing for you to roll your eyes at honey  
You might have him, but haven't you heard" I sang.

Santana took the next part

"I'm just another thing for you to roll your eyes at honey  
You might have him, but I always get the last word"

"Whoa  
She's not a saint and she's not what you think  
She's an actress, Whoa  
She's better known for the things that she does  
On the mattress, Whoa  
Soon she's gonna find  
Stealing other people's toys on the playground  
Won't make you many friends  
She should keep in mind,  
She should keep in mind  
There is nothing I do better than revenge" We sang together

"And do you still feel like you know what you're doing,  
Cause I don't think you do, Oh  
Do you still feel like you know what you're doing  
I don't think you do, I don't think you do" I sang

"Let's hear the applause  
C'mon show me how much better you are  
See you deserve some applause  
Cause you're so much better" Santana sang

And we finished together.

"She took him faster than you can say sabotage"

There was quite a bit of applause and Santana and I high-fived before sitting back down. My phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my pocket.

Hopefully tht makes her back off. God how did u put up with her n NYC? Everything is 'I met him' and 'I did that' oh & don't forget 'You should've seen the outfit I was wearing'

I laughed.

"What?" Finn asked.

"Oh just Tana being Tana."

That night I dreamt about Noah. It was like if the things in New York had happened differently. If he had stayed if I had said I love you back.

I woke up around midnight and grabbed my car and decided to play a song that had been running through my head during my dream it was a perfect mash up of two songs that described the dream exactly.

"Comparisons are easily done  
Once you've had a taste of perfection"

It was true. I'd never be able to stop comparing Finn to Puck.

"He is sensible and so incredible  
And all my single friends are jealous  
He says everything I need to hear and it's like  
I couldn't ask for anything better"

Finn was virtually perfect he had the looks and he was one of those guys that would bring you flowers for no reason or scoop you up in the middle of the hallway and kiss you.

"You said move on  
Where do I go  
I guess second best  
Is all I will know"

I guess that isn't exactly true. I told him to move on.

"He opens up my door and I get into his car  
And he says you look beautiful tonight  
And I feel perfectly finewhen I'm with him but

I am thinking of you  
Thinking of you  
What you would do if  
You were the one  
Who was spending the night  
Oh I wish that I  
Was looking into your eyes"

I didn't really even realize till now that every time I was with Finn I really was thinking about Puck. It was impossible to get him out of my head, he was a mistake that will never be fully erased.

"He respects my space  
And never makes me wait  
And he calls exactly when he says he will

He kissed my lips  
I taste your mouth

He's charming and endearing  
And I'm comfortable but

When I'm with him  
I am thinking of you  
Thinking of you  
What you would do if  
You were the one  
Who was spending the night  
Oh I wish that I  
Was looking into...

You're the best  
And yes I do regret  
How I could let myself  
Let you go  
Now the lesson's learned  
I touched it I was burned  
Oh I think you should know

I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain  
And it's 2am and I'm cursing your name  
You're so in love that you act insane  
And that's the way I loved you  
Breakin' down and coming undone  
It's a roller coaster kinda rush  
And I never knew I could feel that much  
And that's the way I loved you

Looking into your eyes  
Looking into your eyes  
Oh won't you walk through  
And bust in the door  
And take me away  
Oh no more mistakes  
Cause in your eyes I'd like to stay..."

I collapsed on my bed again and tried to force myself to go back to sleep, hoping I would stop dreaming about Noah and move on.


	6. Chapter 6

The next day at school I was dragging my feet from class to class. I hadn't gotten a bit of sleep the night before. Every time I closed my eyes I was haunted by images of Puck and Charlotte.

"Rhea?"Finn said.

I looked up at him.

"I've been calling your name for five minutes are you ok?" He asked.

"Oh uh yeah. I'm fine," I said nodding. "I gotta get to class."

I walked past him towards Spanish and looked over my shoulder to see him watching me looking very confused.

When I took my seat next to Puck in Spanish class I lay my head on my arms and collapsed on my desk. I felt his gaze on my back.

"Why are you starring at me?" I asked. The words came out distorted through the fabric on my favorite hoodie.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Of course," I lied. What I really wanted to say was "No I'm not fine. You're dating Charlotte, who hates me, and I don't even know why I care!"

"Ok."

"Hey Noah!" I heard Charlotte's peppy voice chirp. I groaned. "Is she ok?" She whispered. There wasn't an answer and I imagined Puck was shrugging his shoulders.

"Good morning class," Mr. Schue said from the front of class. I could still hear Charlotte whispering to Puck but I had tuned them out. "I'm assuming that Ms. Rays and Mr. Puckerman and talking about how to conjugate –ir verbs."

"Oh of course, Mr. Schue," Charlotte said. "Oh that color looks great on you!" She exclaimed.

Oh great, stealing my ex wasn't enough she has to start moving in on my dad too?

"Well thank you but we need to get to work. Rhea are you alright back there?" he asked.

"I'm fine!" I yelled muffled through my arms again.

OoOoO

I walk into the choir room and everyone turned to look at me. I was sure I looked like crap. Mercedes opened her mouth to say something and I sent her a glare that dared her to speak. She just shook her head and patted the seat next to hers. I plopped down and sighed.

"I know you're going to hate me for saying anything but are you sure you're not sick?" She asked.

"I know I'm not sick."

"Well…ok."

Then Mr. Schue walked in and I raised my hand. "Can I please sing something?"

"Um sure," he said.

"Ok guys everyone has been asking me if I'm ok all day and I just need to get this off my chest."

I told the piano guy what I wanted to sing and he started playing.

"Do you think, everything, everyone, is going mental,  
It seems to me that it's spiraling outta control and it's inevitable,  
Now don't you think,  
This time is yours, this time is mine,  
It's temperamental,  
It seems to me, we're on all fours,  
Crawling on our knees,  
Someone help us please

Oh Jesus Christ almighty,  
Do I feel alright? No not slightly,  
I wanna get a flat I know I can't afford it,  
It's just the bureaucrats who won't give me a mortgage,  
Well it's very funny cos I got your fucking money,  
And I'm never gonna get it just because of my bad credit  
Oh well I guess I mustn't grumble,  
I suppose that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

Oh yes, I'm fine,  
Everything's just wonderful,  
I'm having the time of my life.

Don't you want something else,  
Something new, than what we've got here,  
And don't you feel it's all the same,  
Some sick game and it's not insincere,  
I wish I could change the ways of the world,  
Make it a nice place  
Until that day, I guess we stay,  
Doing what we do  
Screwing who we screw

Why can't I sleep at night,  
Don't say it's gonna be alright,  
I wanna be able to eat spaghetti bolognaise,  
and not feel bad about it for days and days and days.  
In the magazines they talk about weight loss,  
If I buy those jeans I can look like Kate Moss,  
Oh no it's not the life I chose,  
But I guess that's the way that things go,

Oh yes, I'm fine,  
Everything's just wonderful,  
I'm having the time of my life.

Oh yes, I'm fine,   
Everything's just wonderful,   
I'm having the time of my life.

Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba

Oh Jesus Christ almighty,  
Do I feel alright? No not slightly,  
I wanna get a flat I know I can't afford it,  
It's just the bureaucrats who won't give me a mortgage,  
Well it's very funny cos I got your fucking money,  
And I'm never gonna get it just because of my bad credit  
Oh well I guess I mustn't grumble,  
I suppose that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

Oh yes, I'm fine,   
Everything's just wonderful,   
I'm having the time of my life.

Oh yes, I'm fine,   
Everything's just wonderful,  
I'm having the time of my life."

The music stopped and I just stood there for a second. "Yeah ok that's it. Just don't ask again alright?"

Finn walked in Glee late and I pulled him up to my seat next to Mercedes.

"Honey what happened to you?" She asked.

"New York, the best and worst time of my life," I sighed admitting it out loud for the first time.

I phone buzzed and I pulled it out of my pocket and slid it open. It was from Santana.

Sleepover like old times? 2nite. U, me, Quinn & Britt. Britt's place?

I typed back quickly.

Hell yes! I need a girl's night.

She texted back a smiley face.

Tonight I was going to tell them everything.

"Um Mr. Schue I have a song," Puck said. We all looked at him.

"Sure Puck go ahead."

He walked up to the front of the room.

"Your eyes are blue like the ocean  
and baby I'm lost out at sea  
Did the sun just come out  
or did you smile at me  
I've been trying to ask you  
but I can't seem to speak  
Was it love at first sight  
'cause i walked by last week

I'm singing fa la la la la

Your lips look so lonely  
would they like to meet mine  
You are the one that  
I've been hoping to find  
You're so sweet that you put  
Hershey's out of business  
Can I have a photograph to show my friends  
that angels truly exist

I'm singing fa la la la

You're as cute  
as a button  
The things you do  
sure are something  
Are you running out of breath  
from running through my head  
all night

Is there something in your eye,  
oh wait, it's just a sparkle  
Can you get a little closer  
and help me out a little bit  
Because I scraped my knee  
of falling for you  
But baby a kiss will do

I'm singing Fa la la la la la

You're as cute  
as a button  
The things you do  
sure are something  
Are you running out of breath  
from running through my head  
all night

I'm falling in love and  
wouldn't I like to think so  
And every night I look at  
the stars out my window  
And I hope I can see the  
one that we saw together  
It was just you and me and honestly  
I'll look for that star forever

I'm falling in love and  
wouldn't I like to think so  
And every night I look at  
the stars out my window  
And I hope I can see the  
one that we saw together  
It was just you and me and honestly  
I'll look for that star forever

You're as cute  
as a button  
The things you do  
sure are something  
Are you running out of breath  
from running through my head  
all night

You're as cute  
as a button  
The things you do  
sure are something  
Are you running out of breath  
from running through my head  
all night"

He smiled at Charlotte and sat back down next to her.

My phone buzzed again.

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

"Wait, Hershey's went out of business?" Brittany asked sounding truly heartbroken.

We all sighed.

"Hey Mr. Schue? I've kinda wanted to sing something too," Finn said from next to me.

Will sighed. "Why not? I've already lost complete control of this rehearsal."

Finn got up and looked at me for a second before he started singing.

"I was dreamin' we were running from a city burning down, down, down.  
Made a break, a new escape, and let the world crash, down, down, down.

Now there's a piece of me,  
Tells me I shouldn't leave,  
Every time I see your face.  
Because every time  
You come around,  
Love you take my breath away.

And I just wanna breathe until I take you in.  
I never want you to leave until I take you in.  
But the truth is…

She has no idea,  
That I'm even here.  
She has no idea,  
That I'm even her.

Get a grip, slip and trip, oh the clumsy careless words, words, words.  
Paper-thin fingerprints on a softly spoken verse, verse, verse.

Now there's so much of me,  
Tells me not to leave,  
Every time I see your face.  
Because every time,   
You come around,  
How do you take my breath away.

And I just wanna breathe until I take you in.  
I never want you to leave until I take you in.  
But the truth is...

She has no idea,   
That I'm even here.  
She has no idea,   
That I'm even here.

She's so close when I'm so far away, when I'm so far away,  
Let me dream, let me stay.  
She's so close when I'm so far away, when I'm so far away,  
I can sleep, I can dream, I can change...

She has no idea  
But I'm so far away,  
She has no idea,  
Now I'm so far away.

She has no idea,  
That I'm even here.  
She has no idea,  
That I'm even here.

She has no idea,  
That I'm even here.  
She has no idea,  
That I'm even here.

She has no idea,  
That I'm even here.  
She has no idea,  
That I'm even here"

OoOoO

"Ok Re we know something big happened in NYC last year, you have to tell us," Quinn said.

"Everything," Santana enforced.

I sighed. "Where do I even start?"

"At the very beginning. Why did you even leave?" Quinn asked.

"My mom was being blackmailed."

"By who and for what? " Quinn asked.

"Your mom is the sweetest person I know what would someone have on her?" Santana asked.

"I'm Mr. Schue's daughter," I blurted out. They all gasped and Brittany dropped the bottle of nail polish she was holding on the floor. I grabbed it before it all started pouring out all over the floor and set it up right.

"You don't look anything like him," Quinn said.

Santana scoffed "You say that like it's a bad thing. She got the pretty side of the gene pool."

"There's a pool full of jeans somewhere? Can I have a pair?" Brittany asked.

"So who was blackmailing her?" Santana asked ignoring Britt like we always did.

"Terri, Mr. Schue's ex-wife," I said.

"I never like her much…" Quinn trailed off.

"Ok so we know why you left now what happened once you got there?" Tana pressed.

"Well I went to LaGuardia and that's where I met Charlotte."

Santana made a face and I laughed.

"I told Char I was still dating Finn even thought we broke up months before I left just so she'd stop bugging me about getting a boyfriend. I'd been up there for a few months, it was during spring break, I was at a show on Broadway with Charlotte and some of our other friends and then I saw Puck."

"Puck was at a Broadway show?" Santana asked skeptically.

I laughed. "I guess I wasn't actually supposed to tell you that. He was pretty embarrassed."

"I bet. So why was he up there anyway?" She asked.

"Looking for me I guess. He was staying with a cousin that lived in SoHo, near where I lived, and we ended up hanging out…a lot."

All the girls were looking at me. Quinn gave me the universal sign for move it along.

"Char had a crush on him, but at first she seemed totally cool with me dating him, since he came up to hang out with me anyway-" Santana cut me off.

"Wait, you dated Puck over spring break?"

"Yeah…"

"He disappeared during spring break and when he got back he wouldn't talk about it at all. We ended up hooking up a few weeks later," Quinn said.

"But anyways, I was going to say obviously Charlotte didn't get over Puck, since she jumped on that as soon as she got here," I said.

"That is an understatement. I wondered why that happened so fast…" Santana said. "Anyways, so you dated Puck what's the big deal?"

"We had sex."

"We all slept with him the same year," Tana said with a laugh.

"You slept with Puck, Britt?" I asked surprised.

"Brittany has slept with everyone," Santana said rolling her eyes.

"It's true," Brittany said shrugging.

"I still don't see the big deal."

"I kind of freaked out afterwards. I was never supposed to fall for Puck's stupid games. So I decided after he went home I'd forget about Lima all together, let Char set me up with one of the guys she was always trying to get me to go out with. But then he said he loved me."

"How exactly did he say it?" Tana asked.

"Like 'I love you' all cute and shy, like he was afraid I'd reject him. Which I did."

"Puck never says I love you. He's like Chuck off Gossip Girl, pre-Blair," Quinn said.

"Oh my god. You're Blair!" Santana said. "You just turned him down just like that?" She asked.

I sighed. "Yeah I did. I've regretted it ever since. Then I came back and we haven't really talked about it. He claims that he is only dating Charlotte to keep her quiet but now that I told you I don't see what the big deal is."

"You need to tell him how you really feel," Quinn said.

"But what about Finn? I started dating him when I got back just to distract myself from Puck and now I'm breaking his heart."

"Yeah he sounded pretty heartbroken on stage today," Quinn said.

"Oh god!" I moaned laying back on the sofa.

"We've got to get rid of Charlotte," Santana said.

"How exactly do we do that?" I asked.

"Well I have an idea…"


	7. Chapter 7

*Two Weeks Later*

We finally had all the dirt we needed to take Charlotte down. Santana had made a list of all the things we needed to do. She passed it to me in Chemistry.

I read through it. Each of the ideas and one of our initials scribbled next to it in pink ink. I laughed quietly as I read through it. I wrote on the bottom: "Love it. We start tonight." And passed it back.

That afternoon in Glee club I sat with the girls. We watched Charlotte saunter in and claim her seat next to Puck and I made a face.

"She looks like a whore today," Santana said.

"You always look like a whore," Quinn told her.

"Yes, but I pull it off. Let me rephrase that, she looks like a cheap whore. Better?"

I laughed.

"Guys. I forgot what I was going to do," Brittany said.

"You ask Char to go on Fondue for Two and then you ask her about her STD meds," I said quoting Santana's list.

"Oh yeah."

"Guys I don't know about this," I said. "We're going to ruin her."

"That's the point!" Quinn said.

"Do you want her gone or not?" Santana asked.

"Of course I do but-"

"But nothing!" Santana said cutting me off. "You're going through with your part of the plan ok?"

"Ok…"

OoOoO

That night I called Finn and told him to come over. It was time we talked.

"Are you alright? You sounded weird on the phone," he asked when I let him in.

"I'm fine." I sighed. "There's something we need to talk about."

"Yeah?"

"Finn, I like you I really do but you and I just aren't going to work out. I have a lot to deal with right now and I just can't-"

"I can help you, just let me in," he said.

"I can't!" I snapped. "I'm tired of people trying to help."

"Rhea, I love you."

"No, you don't. You love the idea of me. If you really loved me you'd know that ever since I've been back that I've been different. You'd know that what I'm saying right now is true but you just don't."

"Rhea-"

"No. Finn, you deserve someone who will really love you and that person is not me. No matter how much you wish it was. I can never be the girl that you need. Goodbye Finn."

OoOoO

"I broke up with him," I told Santana over the phone that night.

"Who?" She asked.

"Finn!"

"Oh, how'd that go?"

"Well after I practically yelled at him, he left."

"Are you ok?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Would Charlotte go by Charlotte or Char on Facebook?"

"Char, definitely. He probably hates me"

"Finn could never hate you."

"That's what I'm afraid of," I said sighing.

"Uploading the last of the pictures from NYC. Annnd done. Where did you get all these pictures anyway?"

"Charlotte and I used to keep black mail folders on everyone."

"Apparently even on each other. What dirt does she have on you?"

"Well seeing as I was always the designated driver, and the majority of those stories she tells were all her, not much. Just the Puck thing I guess, and since I'm about to tell everyone about that she doesn't really have much power over me anymore."

"200 friend requests sent. Check your inbox."

I opened my Facebook and confirmed the request from Char Rays.

"What do you think?" Santana asked.

I scrolled through the picture of Charlotte drunk at parties and various other places. Then I clicked on the main wall and read her only post. "I'm a lying man stealer. Friends' boyfriends are NOT off-limits"

"Perfect," I said.

"Good, then step one is complete."

OoOoO

The next day in Spanish Charlotte walked in and tossed her bags down on the seat in front of mine.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning," I commented.

"Oh don't pretend you don't know," she said.

I sighed. "Don't know what? Charlotte, I honestly could care less about you right now. Why would I know anything about your troubles?"

"My troubles? Let me tell you about my troubles."

"Wait let me guess! You broke a nail! No? Did you scuff your new shoes? That's not it either? Huh."

"I know you had something to do with that fake Facebook profile!"

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"It has all sorts of pictures of me in New York, blackmail folder worthy pictures."

"I'm not the only one who had a file on you, you know. Sydney and Olivia did too. How do you know they didn't do it?"

"Sydney and Olivia! Do you honestly think they're smart enough? How would they even know the people from Lima that 'I'm' friends with?"

"I'm sure they know we're both here. They probably just added a bunch of my friends. They're smarter than you give them credit for."

"Whatever."

OoOoO

That night was Brittany's Fondue for Two show with Charlotte. Charlotte thought that Brit was being nice and offering to let her be on her show to help her gain back some of the cred she lost.

I opened the live show on Brit's website. Britt's opening song played loudly through my speakers and I hummed along with the tune. "I'm Brittany S Peirce and you're watching my web show Fondue for Two. I'm here with Charlotte Rays, native New Yorker and new girl at McKinley High. We're here to discuss a few rumors."

"Yes there are a few circling right now. I'd like to tell everyone that the Facebook page that added you all last night was not created by me. While I can't deny that those pictures are of me I do believe that someone I know in New York created that profile to get back at me for something. I'm looking into it."

Good so she took the bait about Syd and Liv. I had called them and they had been happy to cooperate. From what I gathered they were not really on good terms with Charlotte and wished they had thought of the Facebook idea themselves. Needless to say they were all too happy to take responsibility for the profile. I didn't want Charlotte to have any place to go.

There was a chat bar next to the video where viewers could talk. A few people had chimed in. She's still a man stealer though Someone commented. Come on guys be nice Someone else said.

"Well, let's address the rumor about your medicine," Brittany said.

"There's a rumor about me having medicine? Whatever for?" Charlotte asked.

Britt reached down and pulled a tube of zovirax. "This is what people have been talking about."

I looked over at the chat bar. Isn't that meds for an STD? One girl asked. Yeah my ex boyfriend had herpes and he had to use that. Another girl commented.

"I got chickenpox when I was a baby and I had a shingles outbreak. That's all that is," Charlotte said.

Sure it is, that sounds like something a lying man stealer would say. Someone commented.

"I don't have herpes!" Charlotte yelled at the camera.

Someone should make a list of all the guys she's slept with at WMHS, they'll need to get tested. I recognized the username on this one as Santana's. Just adding a little fuel to the fire. You're so right! Someone else commented.

"ARG!" Charlotte yelled before the video went out.

My cell rang and I picked it up. "I'd say that was success wouldn't you?" Santana asked.

"Tana, we are terrible people and we're probably going to hell," I said.

"Don't say that, I would kill myself again if I had to end up in the same afterlife as Charlotte."

"I saw what you did there slipping in one of our sabotage steps. Though she's going to be expecting it now."

"Too bad all you have to do is print it out and make sure it gets to school."

OoOoO

I was sitting in Chemistry pretending to work on my lab report. I was actually eavesdropping on Quinn's conversation two desks ahead.

"You know the only reason she wears all those slutty clothes if because she only has a little time left," Quinn said.

"You mean she's going to die! I didn't know her problem was that serious?" One of the Cheerios that was listening said.

"No you idiot. She's pregnant, I would know."

I couldn't help but snort. Quinn said she could handle herself in the rumor mill without Santana having to write her a script. Who said all rumors had to have a big base in truth? Even though most things we were saying were based in fact we were taking everything way out of context. And if Charlotte's outburst on Fondue for Two last night showed anything, it was getting to her.

Today was the final day. As the bell rang I slipped into the hallway and got lost in the crowd. I put my hand down and let the sheet of paper slip out of my fingers.

By the next class period everyone was talking about.

"I don't know who did it but it was a good idea," I heard a Cheerio say to one of her friends.

"Everyone in the school will have to get tested! Some of those guys on the list have had girlfriends the entire time that Charlotte's been here," another girl said.

"And what about Puck? We all knew something like this was coming but she's cheating on him too! What kind of girl in her right mind would do that?"

OoOoO

That afternoon in Glee club Charlotte was nowhere to be seen. Rachel had just gotten up in front of the room to discuss regionals plans.

"I was thinking that our theme should be-"

Charlotte burst in to the room in the middle of Rachel's sentence. She looked absolutely terrible and I realized the dried blue goo on the side of her face was slushie.

"Do you want to know who the whore here is? Well it's not me! Do you know what happened in New York?" She looked around the room and her eyes landed on Puck. He looked at me and looked back at Charlotte waiting to see what she'd do next.

"I bet he'll tell you. Won't you? You told me yourself you didn't care about her anymore," she paused and I looked at Puck. "She's a bitch. Isn't that what you said? A waste of your time?" Puck looked at me a pleading look in his eyes. "Oh come on, Puck! Just admit it! She was a one night stand that you couldn't care less about a week later. You said it yourself. Tell her."

I jumped up and took off towards the door trying not to cry.

"Rhea wait!" Puck called out. I turned to face everyone.

"Yeah, I slept with Puck in New York. Maybe you ought to ask him more about it since he seems to have such strong opinions. Whatever, obviously it was a mistake." I turned back around and ran down the hall to the bathroom where I collapsed on the floor in tears.

I heard the door open a few minutes later and standing in the door was not only my three best friends, but also Mercedes, Tina and Rachel. They didn't say anything but they sat next to me on the ground. Mercedes gave me a hug and Brittany rubbed my back.

"She was lying," Quinn said.

"Did you see Puck? He didn't look like she was lying," Santana said.

I started crying again and Tina shushed Santana. "You aren't helping!"

"He said that he loved me. Why would he say that if he didn't care?" I asked through my tears.

"You know how Puck gets, when he gets hurt he goes on the defensive. You broke his heart Re, he'll say whatever it takes to get him through the night," Santana said.

"I hate everything he's done to me," I said.

"You love him don't you?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah," I said taking a breath. "I do."


	8. Chapter 8

PuckPOV

There was a knock on my door that night and I got up from my bed where I was sitting staring at the wall, thinking about Rhea. I tried calling her twenty times but every time it went to voice mail, my messages were getting progressively more desperate as I recorded them.

The person at the door knocked more insistently.

"Coming!" I yelled down the hall. I walked towards the door and pulled it open. Standing on my doorstep was Santana, Quinn and Mercedes.

"It's about time," Santana said pushing past me into my house.

"What do you want?" I asked sighing. I was not in the mood to deal with Santana and her mood swings.

"I want to know why you said that stuff about Rhea," Quinn said.

"Charlotte was pissed at her and I was trying to calm her down. I never meant for Rhea to hear any of that stuff."

"Well she did," Mercedes said shaking her head.

"Why did you think contributing anything to the fire that is Charlotte would help anyways? It probably just convinced her even more that she needed to ruin Re," Quinn said. "Charlotte was holding New York over Rhea. Char knew that if Rhea made a move to take her down she'd have ammo to make it even worse for Re."

"I thought that if I kept Charlotte distracted she'd move on from the whole revenge thing," I said.

"Obviously she didn't," Santana said.

"Obviously," I repeated. "Does she hate me? Rhea I mean."

"Yeah but…she loves you too. She always has, she was just scared to tell you before," Quinn said.

"You do have a reputation," Mercedes said.

"She said that?" I asked ignoring Mercedes.

"Yeah she did," Santana said. "For whatever reason, even though you screwed her up. Personally I don't see why."

"What am I supposed to do?" I asked. "I've tried calling her but she keeps sending me to voice mail and she's probably just deleting my messages."

"You're going to sing to her," Quinn said.

OoOoO

The next day Rhea ignored me all through Spanish. I was glad to see Charlotte seemed to be gone, hopefully she'd never come back.

That afternoon everyone was in the auditorium including Rhea. She was in the middle of her row with Santana and Mercedes on either side of her as well as the rest of girls, trapping her in. I hopped she wouldn't get up and leave but if she did the girls would make it hard for her to get out.

The curtains pulled open and I stood there with my guitar. Rhea looked surprised to see me and I hurriedly started playing before she had the chance to jump up.

"She rolls the window down  
And she  
Talks over the sound  
Of the cars that pass us by  
And I don't know why  
But she's changed my mind

"Would you look at her  
She looks at me  
She's got me thinking about her constantly  
But she don't know how I feel  
And as she carries on without a doubt  
I wonder if she's figured out  
I'm crazy for this girl  
Yea I'm crazy for this girl

"She was the one to hold me  
The night  
The sky fell down  
And what was I thinking when  
The world didn't end  
Why didn't I know what I know now

"Would you look at her  
She looks at me  
She's got me thinking about her constantly  
But she don't know how I feel  
And as she carries on without a doubt  
I wonder if she's figured out  
I'm crazy for this girl  
Yea I'm crazy for this girl

"Right now  
Face to face  
All my fears  
Pushed aside  
And right now  
I'm ready to spend the rest of my life  
With you

"Would you look at her  
She looks at me  
She's got me thinking about her constantly  
But she don't know how I feel  
And as she carries on without a doubt  
I wonder if she's figured out  
I'm crazy for this girl

I'm crazy for this girl"

I started the instrumental part and was looking down at my guitar so I didn't see her get up, or see Santana let her go. When I started singing again she was standing on the stairs at the end of the aisle. She looked at me conflicted and then turned towards the exit and ran up the stairs.

"Would you look at her  
She looks at me  
She's got me thinking about her constantly  
But she don't know how I feel  
And as she carries on without a doubt  
I wonder if she's figured out  
I'm crazy for this girl

I'm crazy for this girl"

I finished the song just as she threw open the door and left. I stood there for a second not knowing what to do. Then I sat my guitar down, jumped off the stage and ran after her, but when I got to the parking lot she was gone and so was her car.

Tina and Quinn walked outside and I turned to face them. Quinn handed me my guitar.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"I'm sorry," Quinn said. "I really thought…I don't know."

"It's not your fault. I screwed up and I couldn't fix it."

"Rhea's always been unpredictable," Tina said. "Maybe she'll do something unexpected?"

"With Re everything she does is unexpected," Quinn said a little bitterly.

RheaPOV

I jumped out of my car and ran into my house and down the hall to my room. I collapsed on my bed at stared at the posters on my wall; Broadway show posters, LaGuardia posters, a cityscape poster. I jumped up and ripped them all off my wall. More carefully than I had actually planned, subconsciously I didn't want to ruin them so I tossed them to the floor and sat back down on bed. I buried my head in my hands and tried to breathe.

I got up and moved to the chair in front of my piano and started playing one of my old favorite songs, trying to drive memories of New York out of my head.

My mom came in and sat down on my bed behind me and sat quietly until I finished. "You ok sweetie?" She asked finally.

"Yes. No. No, not really. I just want to shut the world out." I said turning around to face her.

"You don't really tell me anything anymore but I understand that, I was a teenager once too. I know that sometimes it seems like you're climbing a mountain but once you get to the top you'll realize that it was just a little bump in the road."

"It sure doesn't seem like a bump," I said.

"I know. You're trying so hard, you moved to New York and you've ended up back here. I know that's partly my fault but you admitted that you wanted to come back to. There had to be a reason for that, maybe that thing that you're looking for was here in Lima all along. After all it's the person who makes the place."

I sat there thinking over what she had said, it was true.

"If you could change everything would you?" I asked.

"What do you mean by everything?"

"I don't know. Just everything."

"I made a lot of mistakes," she said shaking her head. She seemed to go somewhere else for a second, remembering. "So I guess yes, I would go back and change a lot of things. I realize now that I should've listened to my heart and not my head and that would've changed…well it would've everything. Why?"

"Nothing…There's something I need to do. Could you give me the room?"

"Of course," she said. She leaned down and kissed me on the head when she walked by.

I turned back to my piano and started playing again.

PuckPOV

I didn't have any classes with Rhea on Tuesdays but Santana slid into the seat next to me in history and leaned towards my desk. "Yes?" I asked.

"Glee Club in the auditorium, lunch time," she said.

"Lunch? Can't it wait till I get something to eat?"

"No, it's important. It really can't wait," she said annoyed. "Rhea will be there. Even if she is super pissed at you she wouldn't miss Glee just to get away from you."

"Singing is too important to her, I know," I said. "Fine I'll be there."

"Don't be late."

OoOoO

When I got to the auditorium I sat next to Finn who seemed to be ignoring me. I looked around the room for Rhea but I didn't see her, maybe Santana was wrong.

"Where's Rhea?" I asked leaning over the seats in front of me to talk to Mercedes.

"Don't know," she said curtly.

I sat back in my seat and sighed. "Ok then."

The curtains opened and Rhea was sitting at her piano fiercely concentrating on the keys and not looking at anyone else. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun and a bit of purple was sticking out the side, she looked perfect.

She started playing the opening to a song I didn't recognize and then she started singing.

"Hello, can you hear me?  
I've got something to tell you  
I was lost, but you saved me  
I'll go wherever you want to  
'Cause I think that I've got to have you"

"I've had enough  
I'm in love, it's true  
So don't, don't take it away  
'Cause I've got my eye on you

Rhea's voice surprised me every time I heard her it, it was so beautiful and perfect and it fit her. When I listened to her sing it was like something out of this world and I knew that no matter where she went from here someone would discover her and she would be famous.

"This song is my way of saying  
What I needed to say

I am proud, I am strong  
And you've been here all along  
I didn't know it until today  
I'm so glad that it happened this way

"I've had enough  
I'm in love, it's true  
So don't, don't take it away  
'Cause I've got my eye on you

"Hold on now  
You're leaving  
Take these hands  
Don't you even say goodbye"

She finally looked up and looked straight at me and I relived every moment. From kissing her behind the tree in first grade to lying on the basketball court looking up at the stars and singing Relient K songs to her, I remembered curling up in the corner of her favorite café in New York and I remembered the feeling I got when I heard that she was back in Lima.

"I want you to know that  
I'm going to miss you  
Hold on to my heart  
We'll make it through  
And let it be known  
All I want is you  
And I'm learning to show it to you"

I got up and walked up the stairs on the stage towards her she didn't look up and me but continued playing the song.

"I've had enough  
I'm in love, its true  
So don't, don't take it away  
'Cause I've got my eye on you"

I started singing the last chorus with her and she stood up abandoning the piano. She looked me in my eyes and I knew right then that everything Quinn had said about her being in love with me was true, I could see it in her eyes.

"I've had enough  
I'm in love, it's true  
So don't, don't take it away  
'Cause I've got my eye on you"

I kissed her as the music faded out. "I love you," I whispered.

She smiled a tiny, shy smile and whispered, "I love you too."


	9. Chapter 9

I sighed and plopped into the bus seat next to Puck, he draped his arm around my shoulder casually. "We're going to Nationals, together," I said smiling.

"There's only one thing that could make this any better," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"If Rachel had let you have the solo."

"Oh. That. She was going to press the Mr. Schue's my dad, so he must be playing favorites thing. Whatever. If we win, awesome, if we lose I get the solo next year."

"You're better than her," he said.

"Yeah I know and I'm a better dancer too. That's why I'm going to Julliard and not NYADA. And that's also why I'm ok with her singing the solo. She can have her moment in the spotlight, one day I'll be performing on Broadway or in a modern dance company and I'll have my turn to shine. She's just a little Lima girl with big dreams."

"You're a Lima girl with big dreams too," Puck reminded me.

"Yes, but I've already tested those dreams and they worked out quite well. The only reason I came back was because of a certain Lima boy," I teased.

"This Lima boy is glad you did."

"You two are insanely cute. It's kinda gross," Santana said turning around and leaning over the seat.

"Oh shh, Tana. Now if you two don't mind I'll be taking a nap on the way."

Santana rolled her eyes and I turned to lean against Puck and get comfortable. "Sweet dreams, princess."

OoOoO

"We're here!" Quinn said shaking me.

"Where's the big apple everyone talks about?" Brittany asked.

I rolled my eyes and looked up at Puck. "Been a while since we've been here, huh Puckerman?"

"I think it's about time we came back for a visit," he said kissing me.

"Ew, again. Seriously guys the cuteness is oozing out and suffocating me," Santana said.

"Then don't look!" I said laughing.

"Wait, Santa, can you actually see it oozing?" Brittany asked, wide-eyed.

"Britt, I told you not to call me that," Santana said glaring.

"Sorry," Britt said sheepishly.

"Oh Syd just texted me, she wants to know if we want to go for dinner with her and Olivia tonight," I said checking my phone.

"Do I have to?" He asked.

"No, but I might die if I have to go alone."

"Fine, just for you. As long as you let me take you somewhere afterwards," Puck said mysteriously.

"Ooh a surprise? I love surprises!"

We filed off the bus and into our hotel. Mr. Schue checked us in and then handed out our room keys. "I want you all working on our original songs now. No one leaves the hotel until they're done."

There was a chorus of "But Mr. Schue!"

"He's right," Rachel said. "We need to take this seriously if we want to stand any chance of winning."

"For once I actually agree with her," I said. "Also I have some where to be tonight so the quicker we get these done the better." We all caught the elevator and tossed our stuff into our respective rooms. "Mine and Quinn's room is base camp, everyone meet in there when you finished getting your things settled."

Once everyone dispersed Quinn and I sat down for a second. "Do you really think we have a chance at winning?" she asked.

"I don't know. We have the talent but so does the competition, we need something special."

"Hopefully our original can be that edge we need."

"Hopefully," I said unconvinced.

OoOoo

"This is going nowhere!" I announced standing up. "I need inspiration and I'm not getting it from being cramped in this hotel room for hours. Look Noah and I are going to meet some old friends and maybe that'll help me come up with something."

Rachel who had been staring obsessively at a text on her phone for the last twenty minutes stood up too. "Yes, I'm going to take a nice walk in Central Park."

"I need some air," Finn said at almost the same time. Weird, I thought but didn't comment.

"Come on, Liv got dinner reservations at Balthazar's. I do not want to miss out on French food, especially not their crème brulee." I practically dragged Puck out of the hotel. We walked a few blocks over to one of my all time favorite NYC restaurants. Olivia and Sydney waited at our old usual table. Olivia was tall and brunette, it was obvious she was a dancer from the way she carried herself. Sydney was considerably shorter and a ginger, she was an actress and played the oboe. They jumped up as soon as they saw me and rushed towards me. I hugged both of them tightly and we all squealed. Olivia noticed Puck behind me and gasped.

"I thought you two broke up?" She asked.

"Well we're back together now," I told her.

"You two are precious!" Sydney squealed.

"How are you and Tyler?" I asked turning the conversation away from me quickly. She huffed.

"Oh you know how cello players are."

I nodded like I knew exactly what she meant, "Oh yeah, totally."

"They've been on and off for months," Olivia clarified. "But tell us about the Charlotte thing."

"There's not much to tell really. She was overstepping her bounds so we put her back in her place. Hasn't she shown up here?" I asked.

"No! Letting us take the blame for the fake Facebook profile was genius!" Olivia exclaimed. Noah remained relatively quiet through dinner and I didn't blame him, these two were crazy. After I finished my desert he stood and offered me a hand.

"If you ladies don't mind I have a surprised planned for our lovely Rhea."

"We don't mind at all," Sydney said wiggling her eyebrows at me.

"See you girlies at Nationals?" I asked.

"Wouldn't miss it!" They said happily.

OoOoO

Puck led me up the subway steps and out onto the street. He blindfolded me before we got on and then got me talking so I wouldn't hear what station we got off at. "Where are we?" I asked for the twentieth time. He laughed.

"You'll see in a second, come on." He pulled me down the street and I heard him pushing open a gate I sighed as I walked forwards.

"Are we here now?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. I pulled the blindfold off and smiled, he had taken me to the basketball court in the courtyard of my old apartment complex where we had sat and stargazed the first day we spent together in New York. I lay down in the middle and he sat down next to me.

"You're going to sing to me again, right?" I asked.

"I guess I could but I was thinking we could write a song together for Nationals."

"That's almost better than you singing to me," I said. I rolled over and pulled a notebook out of my purse. I flipped it open and tapped the page with my pen.

"Any ideas?" He asked.

"Not really." We sat in silence for a few minutes and then I began writing. He looked over my shoulder and I turned my back to block his view.

"Let me see," he said trying to steal.

"Not yet, hold on!"

"This isn't really writing a song together."

"Shh!" I hummed a tune and read through the first verse and chorus. I put the notebook in his hand. "Look at this."

He read it and changed a few things. He wrote out a new verse and gave it back. "What about that," he said pointing. "And I changed your wording there."

"I like it…What if…" I erased the last bit of his verse and changed it again.

"That's good!"

"I try," I said with a laugh. "Come on let's go show this to everyone."

"We could stay here for a while longer," he said wistfully looking around.

"Nationals are important, plus I can't let them suffer through another song about dining ware."

"Good point." He took hand and pulled me up. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him.

"I miss this place," I said.

"Me too."

I smiled at him and then turned and ran towards the gate. "Last one to the subway has to buy everyone coffee!" I yelled over my shoulder.

"Hey, wait!" He yelled after me. I laughed as I ran down the street, I sure everyone was staring but I could care less. "Rhea!"

I grabbed the rail of the stairs and leaned over taking a deep breath. He grabbed me around the waist and turned me around. "I win," I said.

"I'm just the Lima loser," he said jokingly.

"Could you stop saying that?" I said seriously. "It's not true."

"Whatever you say, Princess."

"Come on, we have to stop at Starbucks and get lattes before we go up to the hotel."

OoOoO

Everyone sat in mine and Quinn's room with their lattes and Puck and I stood in front of them with my notebook. "Ok so Puck and I wrote this song about-"

Brittany cut me off, "Is it about dinner? I tried writing about dinner; they didn't like that one either. It just made me hungry."

"It's about us. Anyways, I think it's good and I want to know what you guys think."

"Face to face and heart to heart

We're so close yet so far apart

I close my eyes and look away

That's just because I'm not ok

"But I hold on, I stay strong

Wondering if we still belong

"Will we ever say the words we're feeling?

Reach down underneath and tear down all the walls?

Will we ever have a happy ending?

Or will we forever be pretending?

Will we a-a-a-always, a-a-a-always, a-a-a-always be pretending?

"How long do I fantasize?

Make believe that it's still alive?

Imagine that, I am good enough

And we can chose, the ones we love

"But I hold on, I stay strong

Wondering if we still belong

"Will we ever say the words we're feeling?

Reach down underneath and tear down all the walls?

Will we ever have a happy ending?

Or will we forever be pretending?

Will we a-a-a-always, a-a-a-always, a-a-a-always be pretending?

"Keeping secrets safe

Every move we make

Seems like no one's letting go

And it's such a shame

'Cause if you feel the same

How am I supposed to know?

"Will we ever say the words we're feeling?

Reach down underneath and tear down all the walls?

Will we ever have a happy ending?

Or will we forever be pretending?

Will we a-a-a-always, a-a-a-always, a-a-a-always be

Will we a-a-a-always, a-a-a-always, a-a-a-always be

Will we a-a-a-always, a-a-a-always, a-a-a-always be pretending?"

Everyone clapped when we finished and I curtsied. "Wow that was really good, Re," Finn said. It was the first time he had spoken directly to me in weeks.

"Thanks," I said smiling.

"It really is a wonderful song I think with a tiny bit of tweaking it will fit my voice perfectly," Rachel said in her sickly sweet tone.

"It already fits my voice," I said.

"But Finn and I will be singing it obviously," she said.

"I wrote it," I said.

"We already decided this Rhea. Finn and I will be singing the duet." The sweetness faltered.

"Rachel, she did write the song," Mercedes said trying to help me.

"I'm singing it!" Rachel said.

"I won't give it to you," I said. "You can write your own duet."

"Now you're just being selfish. This song could win us Nationals, would you really pull it out?"

I looked around the room at all my friends; everyone was so excited to win. Mercedes, Santana and a few of the others looked like they would put up a fight on my behalf but the last thing we needed right now was a giant fight right before our biggest performance ever. "Fine," I said stiffly. I handed her the notebook.

"Come on Finn, let's go to my room and practice this." Finn shot me an apologetic look as they walked out.

"I hate her, I really hate her," I said after the door closed. "What else did you guys come up with while I was gone?"

Quinn handed me her notebook. "It's for the group song."

"I like this, have you guys started working on choreography?" I asked.

"Not yet," Mercedes said. "You came back right after we finished."

"Britt, Mike, you two want to do this?" I asked looking at them.

"Yeah!" Britt said. "No one ever asks me to do anything."

"Well this is one thing I know you can do," I said.

"We're going to kill this thing," Britt said jumping up and down.

"I think there's a big conference room down stairs that we can use," Mike said. I grabbed Brittany who was humming and bouncing. We followed Mike down to the room he had found.

"Lock the door; we aren't the only glee club in this hotel, I don't want someone coming in here and stealing our routine," I said. Mike flipped the lock and I perched on one of the tables. "Ok so how do we want to do this?"

"Can I do a cartwheel?" Brittany asked.

"Um I'm sure we can fit that in somewhere," I said.

"No, I just mean like right now. Can I do a cartwheel right now?"

"Sure," I said sighing.

"It doesn't need to be too difficult," Mike said. "I'm not sure Finn could handle too much difficulty."

I snorted, "Point. What about a classic start facing the back, then we stager our turns. We can add a cross here and here." I pointed at the parts on my lyric sheet and marked them with 'C's and 'T's for crosses and turns, then made a quick picture of where each person would be lined up.

"All the girls are good dancers," Brittany said. "So we can add a little more dancing here when we sing our part." Dance was what Brittany knew best and she was in her element now.

"You want to work on that verse and me and Mike will move on?" I asked. She nodded and left us at the table. "I think Finn can handle some arm moves during the group bit." I demonstrated my idea and he nodded and made some notes to remember what we'd come up with.

"You and Rachel need a stand out combination in your solos. What if you did a sort of spiral around each other while doing...let's try a traveling box but with jumps on every 3 and 5 count and a pirouette in between each box." We ran the step quickly and I changed the jumps on the 5 count into switch leaps.

"Let's end with everyone kinda doing their own freestyle thing into the center and then end with our heads down on the last note."

"Dramatic," Mike said laughing.

"Brit, you got something for me?" I called. She nodded and showed me her combo. "Looks awesome, let's teach this stuff."

OoOoO

The next day I stood on stage with all my closest friends and the crowds around us were going wild. I couldn't help but feel excited. The lights went down and we were ushered off stage quickly so the next group could perform. I started hugging everyone, even Rachel, and tried not to freak out too much. We were amazing out there, our glee club had so much talent and we deserved to make the finals for than anyone.

"You look happy," Puck said squeezing me.

"I am, even if we don't win I have faith in our future." I gave him a look, "if you even comment on my corniness…"

"You're even ok with letting Rachel have the solo?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

I shrugged. "If we lose I'll get it next year and I can promise that we'll be even better then. Not because of me, but I mean experience. You know what I mean!" I realized I sound a little snobby but I knew that in a year we'd have even more talent throughout our little group. We sat in the lobby waiting for the final 10 list to be posted. No one spoke much and the longer we sat in silence the more nervous I started to get. I lay my head on Puck's shoulder and I must have dozed off because suddenly Kurt was shaking me.

"Rhea! Rhea, wake up! Mr. Schue just went to check the list! Wake up!"

"I'm awake, I'm awake. My god Kurt!" He grabbed my hand and I reached for Puck's with my other and we stood with the rest on New Directions in a huddle waiting for the results. When my dad walked back towards us he shook his head slightly. This silence was even worse than the one before, this time it was a defeated silence and I had the overwhelming urge to curl up in my bed back in Lima and drink some hot chocolate.

OoOoO

When we got back to Lima I did in fact go home and take a nice nap and I woke up feeling pretty alright. I got several texts from Britt and Quinn though saying that Santana, always my opposite, had had a complete mental breakdown. Also in my inbox were several long messages from Santana titled "Project Take Down the Bitch 2.0" which I rolled my eyes at and deleted. As much as Rachel got on my nerves there was a world of difference between Rachel and Charlotte. Not to mention I tended to be a pacifist, I almost dropped out of getting revenge on Charlotte and she'd deserved it. Suddenly my phone buzzed again with an incoming text. I opened it and saw it was from Puck, I smiled. "What are you doing this summer? ;)"

I typed back quickly. "Oh not much. Dancing, sleeping, singing, hanging out with the girls, cheering maybe. Hanging out with you? Haha. Love you."

I slid my phone shut. This was my last high school summer, this time next year I'd be getting ready to go to New York for college. I was going to make the most of my time left here starting now, bring on summer and bring on my senior year.


	10. Chapter 10

"I still don't understand how you still look hot with purple hair," Puck said as we walked into school for the first day of our senior year.

"It's lavender," I said. "And it'll fade back to blonde in like three weeks; at least that's what my stylist said."

"Maybe you could dye your hair cotton candy blue next!" Brittany said bobbing along next to us.

"Ask me again when I go through my next rebel phase," I said laughing. Then Quinn walked by; hot pink hair, nose ring and all. We barely glanced at each other before moving in opposite directions down the hall.

"Are you ever going to tell us what happened between the two of you?" Kurt asked from his locker across the hall.

"We're just different people doing different things. People grow apart, it's not that weird."

"Not people who have been best friends since they were two. Those kinds of friends are friends for life," Santana said. Practically the entire Glee Club had accumulated in the hall in between mine and Kurt's locker which were opposite each other.

"We've lost so many people!" I said suddenly.

"And now she's changing the subject," Santana mumbled, rolling her eyes.

"No, look at us! Sam moved, Lauren and Quinn quit, now we're such a tiny group! It's about time for yearly recruitment."

"How do you plan on convincing people to join, we've yet to gain that 'cool' status," Santana said.

"Ok, well maybe I haven't worked that out yet, but Mr. Schue will have an idea." I walked by Kurt and linked arms with him; he mumbled something that I couldn't understand. "What?"

"Blaine might be coming to school here," he said again.

"Oh my god! That's great!"

"Shhh!"

"What?" I whispered.

"He might be transferring. But I don't know yet, so don't go getting everyone excited in case he decided to stay at Dalton."

"He'll transfer, he loves you too much," I assured him. We walked into the choir room followed by the rest of our club and my dad came in a few minutes later.

"As you all know we're in need of some new Glee members, so I have an idea," Will said. I gave the group an 'I told you so' look over my shoulder. Will motioned towards the door and three purple pianos were rolled in.

"Oh look Re, they match your hair," Brittany said.

"My hair is lavender!" I snapped.

"Anyways," Will said getting us settled down, "I think we need to inspire the kids of William McKinley to join the Glee Club, so I'll be placing these pianos around campus and whenever you pass one I want you to stop and perform a song."

"That's not a bad idea," Tina said. We all nodded our agreement.

"Alright then, now get to class," Will said waving us away. He stopped me as we walked past the door. "Rhea, do you want to talk about anything?"

"Would people stop worrying about me? I'm serious when I say nothing happened this summer, sure I went a little crazy with Quinn but I'm back to normal now. And before you ask, it's a stain not a dye, It'll come out in a few weeks." I walked out of the choir room without saying anything else.

OoOoO

After lunch that day I was walking down the hall with Mercedes and Tina when we spotted a purple piano. "Oh no," Tina said.

"You said yourself this was a good idea," I reminded her.

"Yeah but, what if we get slushied while we're singing."

"Then we get slushied, it's not the end of the world. Come on I have just the song."

"If you surround yourself with negative people  
You'll never feel settled in or become an equal, no  
They'll suppress you of your spirit and rinse you dry of smiles  
So reach deep and release your inner child, yeah, yeah" I started dancing around trying to get Tina into it.

"So stand up for the love, love, love  
So stand up for the love, love, love  
So stand up for the love, love, love  
So stand up, stand up, for the love, love"

"'Cause you're as old as you feel you are  
And if you don't reach for the moon you can't fall on the stars  
So I live my life like every day is the last, last, last"

"'Cause you're as old as you feel you are  
And if you don't reach for the moon you can't fall on the stars  
So I live my life like every day is the last, last, last  
So stand up"

Tina sat down in front of the piano and started playing as she sang the second verse.

"If you let a frown become your normality, yes  
You don't set an example for the youth of our humanity  
If you spend every day wishing for the next to come  
Aged and lifeless is what, yes, you'll become, yeah, yeah"

By the chorus me and Mercedes were jamming out around the piano.

"So stand up for the love, love, love  
So stand up for the love, love, love  
So stand up for the love, love, love  
So stand up, stand up, for the love, love"

"'Cause you're as old as you feel you are  
And if you don't reach for the moon you can't fall on the stars  
So I live my life like every day is the last, last, last"

"'Cause you're as old as you feel you are  
And if you don't reach for the moon you can't fall on the stars  
So I live my life like every day is the last, last, last  
I live my life like every day is the last"

Mercedes started the final verse and

"So ignore the bad and the good will soon come  
Don't think second best, be number one  
Spread some love, don't give to receive  
Strive to be happy and live to believe"

"So ignore the bad and the good will soon come  
Don't think second best, be number one  
Spread some love, don't give to receive  
Strive to be happy and live to believe"

"So stand up for the love, love, love  
So stand up, stand up for the love, love, love  
So stand up for the love, love, love  
So stand up, stand up, for the love, love"

"'Cause you're as old as you feel you are  
And if you don't reach for the moon you can't fall on the stars  
So I live my life like every day is the last, last, last"

"'Cause you're as old as you feel you are  
And if you don't reach for the moon you can't fall on the stars  
So I live my life like every day is the last, last, last"

"'Cause you're as old as you feel you are  
And if you don't reach for the moon you can't fall on the stars  
So I live my life like every day is the last, last, last"

"So stand up for the l-l-love, yeah  
So stand up for the l-l-love, yeah  
So stand up"

We finished the song and started laughing. "See we didn't get slushied," I said.

"That's because everyone avoided this hall when they heard us singing," Mercedes said.

"Oh well, it was fun," I said. I looked up at one of the clocks, "Oh my god, we're super late to class." We started laughing again as we rushed down the hall to Mr. Schue's Spanish class.

OoOoO

"What are you doing Rachel?" I asked with a sigh. I sat down in my usual seat in the choir room and Rachel didn't move from her spot in the middle of the room.

"I'm making an announcement," she said.

"Of course you are," I said sighing. She waited as the rest of the group trickled in. The last two in the room were Kurt and Blaine; we all jumped up and hugged Blaine. I started squealing at Kurt, "I knew it!" Rachel was smiling but still standing in the center of the room. She waited until we all got seated before making her announcement.

"Ok, now that we're all here," she began. "I think that we should have a school musical this year. Obviously it should be Westside Story and obviously I should play Maria."

"Excuse me?" Mercedes asked.

"I said-" Rachel started.

"I heard you; why do you automatically become Maria?"

"She has a point, why don't we have auditions so it's fair?" Tina asked.

"Because we already know who will win," Rachel said calmly.

"Rachel, maybe they're right-" Kurt began before he was cut off.

"Whose side are you on? I have to get into NYADA!" Rachel snapped. I stood up and walked out passing my dad.

"What's going on in there?" He asked.

"Rachel's world is ending, again. Have fun in there."

"Before you go, I want to start working on some of our member's dancing abilities and I was hoping you and Mike could teach them. Vocal Adrenaline is missing a coach right now so we need to use this time to get ahead of them."

"Yeah, I'm totally in."

OoOoO

The following afternoon Mike and I were in the auditorium attempting to teach our friends some basics. I'd been trying to teach Finn a jazz square for what felt like two hours. "Finn, come on!" I said exasperated. He tried again and just ended up looking like a dying penguin. "Puck can do this better than you can! And that's really saying something because his idea of dancing in pelvic thrusting."

"Hey!" Puck grumbled. I blew him a kiss before turning back to Finn.

"Let's try something simpler," I said taking a deep breath.

"Is there anything simpler than a jazz square?" Finn asked.

"No!" I groaned.

Mike grabbed my shoulder, "Why don't you take a break for a minute, then go teach Blaine some combinations."

"Thank god," I said letting out a breath. I walked off stage and grabbed a bottle of water, I felt arms wrap around my waist and looked up to see Puck standing behind me. "Hi," I said. He kissed my head before twisting me around and kissing my lips.

"Hey," he said.

"You really should be out there dancing," I scolded half-heartedly.

"How am I supposed to focus when my dance teacher is this hot?" He asked. I smiled at him and kissed him again. "Hey, can I ask you something?" I nodded. "Shelby Corcoran is back in Lima."

"That's Rachel's mom right?" I asked.

"And the woman that adopted Beth," he said.

"Oh my gosh, Beth! I want to see her!"

He smiled, "That's what I wanted to ask you, I was going to go try to see her after this and I really want you to come with me."

"What about Quinn?"

"Shelby doesn't want Quinn around Beth right now, she's hoping that Quinn will clean up and then she'll let her back in Beth's life."

I nodded. "Okay, I'll come with you. I really need to get back in there before Mike starts to wonder." I kissed him again before running back on stage.

OoOoO

Blaine and I got along great and I was so happy for him and Kurt. Blaine was actually a pretty good dancer and I wasn't really sure why he'd thought he needed to catch up on anything, but he was fun to work with because we could make stuff up and he already knew the basics. "Alright guys, that's enough for today. I'll see you all in here tomorrow for more practice, you're already all looking better," Mr. Schue said. I ran back stage and grabbed my purse before meeting Puck outside by his car.

"You ready?" He asked.

"Yup." I hopped in the passenger seat and on the drive started messing with my hair. First I braided it, then fishtailed it, then tied it in a top knot, and finally settled on making a fishtail top knot.

"You've been doing your hair for twenty minutes; it looked fine before we left."

"No, it looked like I had just been dancing," I said.

"Which you were," he said not getting it.

"It was limp and kinda gross. God you're such a guy." I rolled my eyes as we got out of the car and walked up to Shelby's door. Puck stood there awkwardly for a moment before knocking and then we waited until we heard the lock click open.

"Oh Noah, and you must be his new girlfriend. You really like girls with colorful hair don't you?" Shelby asked.

"It's not permanent!" I said quickly.

She smiled. "I'm good friends with your father, from what he's told me I can tell you're a good kid. I don't know how you ended up with this one though," she said motioning at Puck.

"He's not a bad guy," I said as I grabbed his hand.

"Maybe not," she said. Suddenly a baby started crying in the other room. "Oh gosh, Beth woke up. You two can come inside if you want to." Puck and I walked in and stood awkwardly in the middle of her living room as she picked up Beth and began rocking her. She turned so we could get a better look at Beth.

"She looks so much like you, Puck," I said a little in awe.

"I think she looks a lot like Quinn," Puck said.

"She looks like both of you; she's going to be stunning when she grows up." I took a step towards Shelby and Beth and raised my hand to wave at her. Beth reached out and grabbed one of my fingers and made a cooing noise.

"She likes you already," Shelby said smiling. "Would you like to hold her?"

"Really?" I asked surprised. Shelby nodded and then showed me how to hold Beth the right way. The last time I had held a baby was when my aunt Trisha had put my little cousin Riley in my lap and I was only about three then so it didn't really count. I looked down at Beth who was staring at me. It was crazy how much she looked like her parents. I was shocked at how I felt totally calm about the whole situation and wasn't upset or jealous even though I knew that this little girl was my boyfriend's daughter.

"Can I hold her?" Puck asked shyly looking at Shelby, she nodded a little bit and I passed Beth into Puck's arms carefully. Beth seemed to know exactly who was holding her and lay her head against his chest and started to fall asleep.

"Wow, that's the quickest I've ever seen her fall asleep. Maybe you two should babysit her sometime, she seems to like you both a lot."

"I'd love that," I said quickly. I glanced at Puck to see if he was ok with it and he was beaming. "We should get going; I have a Trig test tomorrow." Shelby walked us to the door and waved as we left. Puck squeezed my hand. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing, have you ever been around kids before?"

"Not really, just my little cousin but she's only a few years younger than me so it doesn't really count."

"Beth seemed to love you."

"I'm glad." Puck leaned across the seat and kissed me. I sighed and then relaxed back in my seat and looked at the stars in the clear sky. "Beautiful," I murmured.

"You are."


	11. Chapter 11

I sat in my room picking apart the fraying hole on the knee of my jeans. I had sung every West Side Story song more times than I could count but I just wasn't into it. I wanted to beat Rachel out for Maria but I didn't even want the part. I turned on my laptop and pulled up my iTunes play list and hit the randomize button. The first song to come up was one of my favorites by Ingrid Michaelson and I just started dancing. Dancing had always come easier to me than singing. Sure I loved singing and everyone told me I had an amazing voice, but I didn't love it the way I loved to dance.

I skipped to the next song, a ballad by a French singer, I didn't understand a single word she was singing but I could feel the passion in her voice and translated that into movement. I was so caught up in what I was doing I didn't even notice my mother in the doorway. "Oh my god!" I squealed when I piqued around and noticed her in the doorway.

"Sorry," she laughed. "I didn't mean to scare you. Dancing?" she asked, though it was obvious. I nodded. "Have you ever thought about trying to start a dance program at McKinley?"

"Like teach classes or something? I'm running the glee club's dance practices with Mike."

"No, like a modern dance company. You could get Mike and Brittany and I'm sure there are some other dancers. You could have a performance and you and your friends could choreograph it, it would give you something else to put on your resume for Julliard."

I thought about it. I could give Rachel her precious musical but I would get to be in the spotlight too, on my own turf. "That's a really good idea."

"Let me know if you need any help with marketing," my mom said with a smile as she left. I sat back down on my bed and grabbed my cell. I dialed Mike's number and tapped my nails impatiently while I waited for him to pick up.

"Rhea?" He answered.

"Hey, hold on let me add Brittany." I called her and she answered on the first ring.

"HELLO?" She yelled over the blaring music in the back ground. "OH HOLD ON!" the music stopped abruptly. "What's up?" she asked at normal volume. I rolled my eyes though she couldn't see me.

"I had an amazing idea, well actually it was my mother's idea but it's brilliant. I've decided not to audition for the musical but since this is my senior year I really need something great to go my resume. My mom suggested we have our own show, like a dance company but a one weekend thing."

"Do I get to choreograph?" Brittany asked.

"I was thinking that the three of us would. I know my fortes are modern and jazz but we each have our own styles and we could incorporate them into one show."

"Well sign me up," Mike said.

"Me too!" Brittany said excited.

"Awesome, do you guys want to meet at Breadstix after school tomorrow to talk about things?" I asked. The both said that sounded like a good idea and we hung up. I grabbed my laptop and started researching something for the title. I wanted something simple so I started looking up dance related words in other languages. Tanssia meant dance in Finnish, I liked the word and I like the way it looked in pretty fonts in Word. I would have to get it approved with Mike and Brittany but it was going to be known as Tanssia in my mind from then on.

The second step was the theme which I really hopped the other two had some idea about because I had no idea. At LaGuardia our last concert had been called "Dance on Canvas" and we had to choreograph pieces based on famous paintings. I had done Water Lilies by Monet and used Clair de Lune; it had been much more traditional than this concert was going to be. I sighed and closed my laptop, it was almost one in the morning and I was falling asleep sitting up. I turned my lamp off and rolled over into my pillow.

OoOoO

The next day at school Brittany sat next to me in English. "I asked around with some of the Cheerios and I have four that have been dancing since they were like born…can babies dance? We should have dancing babies!"

"Britt, back on topic," I reminded her.

"I got four Cheerios to agree to do the concert."

"That's awesome, I wonder if Mike found anyone else. Any ideas what the theme of our concert should be?"

"Um I don't know but I've been thinking about the name…how about Dance-ios?"

"What?" I asked.

"You know, like the Cheerios? But Dance-ios cause we dance?"

"Britt, Cheerios works cause it's like the cereal…"

Her eyes widened "Oh my god!" I was about to ask her if she really had never realized that before but Mr. Wells walked in just then and told us to quiet down.

I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote "How about Tanssia?" I handed the paper to her and she read it.

"I like it, it looks pretty."

"So it's settled then?"

" "

OoOoO

During glee Rachel started on a spiel about the musical and how obviously she was going to be Maria. Tina and Mercedes quickly got upset followed by Santana who started yelling as well, though I knew she didn't really want to play Maria. I sighed and stood up. "Hey!" I yelled. Everyone stopped and stared at me, I hardly ever yelled. "Mike, Brittany and I have an announcement to make."

"We're starting a dance company," Brittany said happily.

"We'll be performing the weekend of the 23rd," Mike told them. "So you all should come see us."

"Wait," Rachel said stepping towards us. "The 23rd?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Rachel. Principal Figgins gave us the auditorium for that weekend, we're having three showings."

"No, that's not possible. Principal Figgins gave us the auditorium for that weekend, for the musical."

"Maybe it was a misunderstanding," Finn said stepping in. "He probably just assumed since you're both in glee that you guys were talking about the same thing."

"There's a huge difference between a dance show and a musical," Rachel said snapping at him. "A musical requires talent."

"Honey, I'd love to see you choreograph a ballet or even a hip hop routine let alone dance the piece," I said to Rachel.

"I am perfectly capable of making a dance look lovely."

"Oh really? Then why is Mike choreographing the musical and helping me run the booty-camps?" I raised an eyebrow and waited for her to say something. She didn't. "I thought so."

"You can't have that auditorium," Rachel said.

"Watch me." I turned on my heel and walked out of glee for the second time that week. I ran right into Puck who grabbed my arms.

"Whoa where are you going so fast? Don't we have glee?"

"We do."

"What happened?"

"The start of World War Three." We walked into the empty classroom next door and sat down. I explained everything that had happened.

"How are you going to convince her to give you the stage?" He asked.

"How else? A sing off."

"You're going to challenge Rachel to a sing off?" Puck asked surprised.

"What you don't think I'll win?" I asked.

"No, I mean yes. I think you'll win."

"Well, I guess we'll see. I assume you're doing the musical?"

"If you want me to drop out I will," Puck said.

"Don't drop out. Rachel isn't in charge, Artie, Emma and Coach Beiste are. Plus it's not like you can exactly join Tanssia."

He laughed. "You don't want these sexy dance moves in your show?" he asked pelvic thrusting.

"You can check with Mike and Brittany but that definitely won't go with my pieces."

"What's it going to be about?" He asked.

"I don't know yet, Brittany wasn't very helpful. I'm hoping Mike has some ideas, the three of us are supposed to be going to Breadstix after school."

"What about young love? That sounds kind of cliché but love is something you can show no matter what style of dance."

I smiled. "That's not a bad idea. I knew I kept you around for some reason." I kissed him and he wrapped his arm around me.

OoOoO

That night I was sitting in Breadstix with Mike and Brittany. I ordered parmesan chicken but it was sitting mostly untouched on my plate. Brittany had eaten four orders of breadsticks and was still going strong.

"Ok, so here are the songs we have down so far: Kids in Love, I'll Be, You Belong with Me, and Young Love. We really need some more songs."

"That's all I can think of," Brittany said shrugging.

"Britt, you haven't suggested a single one of the songs. Maybe if you and I come up with one more each," I said to Mike. "And Britt, come up with three songs you want to choreograph. That should be enough. Maybe we could do a finale that all three of us choreograph."

"Stay the Night!" Brittany yelled.

"Huh?" Mike asked looking up from his pasta.

Brittany rolled her eyes and looked at him like he was the dumb one for a change. "Write that down, that's my song."

I shrugged. "Ok, one down two to go."

"Let's talk more tomorrow, I don't know if there's anything else we can do tonight. I found some guys to dance with us; they'll only do the hip hop routines though." He got up and we followed him.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course they will. Well I guess you'll just have to perform in some of my dances."

He nodded. "See you two tomorrow."

I waved and turned to Brittany. "Don't forget to pick your songs, and start thinking up choreography too."

"I know," she said sighing dramatically. "What are you going to sing against Rachel?"

"I don't know yet."

"Text me once you find out and Santana, Mike and I will get on production. The cooler the performance the more likely we are to get that stage, right?"

"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow." I waved to Britt and hopped in my car still unsure what I was supposed to sing. I needed to win that stage, maybe it wasn't imperative that we perform that weekend but it was imperative that Rachel didn't win.

OoOoO

Two days later Rachel and I stood on the stage in the auditorium. "Whole Lotta Love!" Brittany said running up to me.

"You really have terrible timing," I told her.

"Write it down!" She snapped.

"Fine, fine. Go get in your place." I shooed her off. I grabbed my note pad and jotted down Brittany's second song under Mike's final song Fine by Me. I waited in the wings as Rachel got on stage in one of her typical Rachel outfits and sung Don't Rain on My Parade for what felt like the thousandth time. Everyone had to be sick and tired of Rachel singing that song, so unless I royally screwed up it would have to be me who won our sing off.

I walked out onto stage and took my place at the mic. Rachel smirked as she watched off. "So the song I'm singing today will be one of the pieces in our performance. Mike and Brittany are going to perform the dance I choreographed for it. I think it's pretty self explanatory but basically it's about a dysfunctional relationship that neither of them can get out of." I cleared my throat and nodded off stage to Mike and Brittany in the wings.

"I still remember that empty look left on your face  
You took the pictures but you left the frames  
All we had written, well, it's been erased  
Something that I had to do  
I cut you deep, you're bleeding through  
You're every single shade of blue  
I'm standing right in front of you

I can hear your heartbeat slowing down  
I can hear your heartbeat turn me around  
You can take my life  
All you need, make me right  
I can't sleep with your heartbeat slowing down

Here you left scattered  
Like wishes I led to your room  
Bury my face in your pillow  
Just to smell your perfume  
Outside I'm hungry  
But inside I'm just consumed  
Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe  
Losing you is choking me

I can hear your heartbeat slowing down  
I can hear your heartbeat turn me around  
You can take my life  
All you need, make me right  
I can't sleep with your heartbeat slowing down

I fucking hate this town  
I wanna burn it down  
I never felt so cold  
And I when I burn this town  
I hope I burn it down  
Leave me on my own  
I fucking hate this town  
I wanna burn it down  
I never felt so cold

I can hear your heartbeat slowing down  
I can hear your heartbeat slowing down  
I can hear your heartbeat turn me around  
You can take my life  
All you need, make me right  
How can you sleep with your heartbeat slowing down  
I can hear your heartbeat slowing down"

The piece ended with the two dancers walking away from each other off stage. I sighed and stepped back from the mic. Rachel walked up on stage and stood next to me. "Let's vote," she said. "We can start with Finn."

"Um, I guess…I mean Rachel, I vote for Rachel." He looked at me apologetically. I shrugged.

"Kurt?" Rachel asked.

"Sorry Rhea, I have to go with Rachel," Kurt said. I was a bit surprised but I guessed he was voting for her because of needing something for NYADA.

"So far three for me, three for you," Rachel said looking smug.

"I'll vote for Rhea," Blaine said. Kurt shot him a look and Blaine shrugged. "I liked her performance better."

"Rhea," Mercedes said.

"Rhea. Obviously," Santana said crossing her arms. She looked at Puck who laughed.

"Is that actually a question, obviously I'm voting for my girlfriend."

"Looks like I win," I said nodding.

My dad stood up. "Before you get upset Rachel, I talked to Principal Figgins he says that the auditorium is open the weekend of the 7th so two weeks later."

She glared at me. "Fine, with some of these people in the cast I'm sure we'll need that extra two weeks of rehearsals. Some people just weren't meant for theatre." She stormed off stage.

"Is she trying to make us all quit the show? Cause I already don't like her and without us there won't be a show for her to put on her application," Santana said.

"I'll go after her," Finn said, getting up and following Rachel out into the hallway.

"This club is so dysfunctional, maybe I should choreograph a dance about us," I said shaking my head. Mike, Brittany and I all turned to each other. "Oh my gosh!"


	12. Chapter 12

I was home working on choreography later that week when there was a knock on the door. "Rhea, could you grab the door?" My mom called from her room. I sighed and scribbled down the last few things I'd been working on before running out to the door. I opened it, expecting to see the UPS man with a package but instead Quinn stood in front of me. "Oh."

"Nice to see you too," Quinn said. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, I guess." I stepped aside and let her in. "You look…better."

"Less pink you mean? Your hair is still purple."

"It's lavender," I mumbled.

"I know you've been going with Puck to see Beth."

I nodded. "I've gone over a few times."

"How is she?" Quinn asked.

"She's great, she's practically perfect. Puck really loves getting to see her."

"Do you think Shelby would let me see her now?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask her, or Puck? Why are you here exactly?"

"I know we aren't exactly friends anymore. I know I was stupid this summer…"

"You got me arrested," I said.

"Yeah but you got it cleared off your record, I mean you didn't actually do anything," she reasoned.

"Quinn, that isn't the point! You are not the kind of person that I want around Beth and I'm sure Shelby and Puck feel the same way."

"I want to see my daughter! Please, Rhea. I've changed." She looked like she was about to start crying, Quinn never cried.

"I'll see what I can do, but no promises."

"Thank you."

OoOoO

The next afternoon I went over to Shelby's with Puck to babysit. "There you two are! Beth has been waiting to see you all day, haven't you honey?" Shelby cooed to Beth and Beth smiled shyly. Shelby handed Beth to Puck who kissed her forehead. "Thank you two so much for babysitting tonight. I know it was a little last minute," Shelby said.

"Oh it's no problem," I said smiling.

"I just fed her but she wasn't too hungry, her jar of baby food is still on the counter if she gets fussy later. You both have my number so that's covered. Um I don't know, if there's anything else you need just give me a call."

"Oh Shelby, can I talk to you for a second?" I nodded towards the front hall and we left Puck in the living room with Beth. "Quinn came to see me today. She's gotten rid of the hair and the nose ring; she's trying to clean her act up for Beth."

Shelby nodded, thinking. "I want to talk to her, but if she really has gotten back on track I would love for her to be a part of Beth's life too."

"Good, I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that."

"I should get going," Shelby said.

"Have fun!" I called to her as I walked back into the living room.

"What was that all about?" Puck asked.

"Quinn wants to see Beth, she's looking better."

"What did Shelby say?"

"She wants Quinn to be part of Beth's life. Beth is just going to be so spoiled between the four of us."

"She's already got us all wrapped around her little finger," Puck said smiling and Beth who was grabbing her toes and laughing.

"Kids are so funny," I said. I grabbed my phone and texted Quinn that Shelby was probably going to let her see Beth soon. I turned on the TV and let Beth watch one of her movies while I started working on some Spanish homework. "Have you noticed we've been learning how to conjugate present tense verbs for the last three months?"

"Yeah, even I don't need that much help."

"I'll talk to my dad about revising his lesson plan, there are other tenses. Like Imperfect, that's my favorite."

"Only you would have a favorite Spanish verb conjugation."

"You know you love it."

"I love you," he said kissing me. The doorbell rang then and I looked towards the front hall.

"Shelby didn't say she was expecting anyone, did she?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so."

I got up and walked over to the door and looked through the window. I pulled the door open and went outside; I closed the door behind me. "What are you doing here?" I hissed.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "I'm here to see my daughter, obviously."

"I told you Shelby wanted to talk to you first."

"Well, I don't want to talk to Shelby."

"Too bad, Quinn. You're not getting in this house."

She sighed. "I know you're still angry about what happened this summer, but it was all a misunderstanding."

"You shoplifted and then framed me. How on Earth could that possibly be a misunderstanding Quinn?"

"When you say it like that it sounds really bad, but I swear I didn't mean to."

"What you just accidentally dropped three CDs and a bracelet into my purse?"

"I thought I paid for them, you told me you'd hold some of my stuff when I went to the restroom. They weren't even expensive, I'm not poor. I just missed them in my pile of things I set on the counter."

"I don't even know how you convinced the police of that, because it's not fooling me. Friends don't frame friends for crimes!"

"I don't know how many times I can tell you I'm sorry. I'm trying to turn over a new leaf, I really am. I want you to be Beth's godmother."

"What?" I asked. "I don't think you can make godmothers, Shelby is her mom now."

"I want her back."

"Quinn, it doesn't work that way. You can't just say oh never mind I want my kid back. There are no take backs in adoption."

"There is if I prove she's an unfit parent," Quinn said.

"Shelby is an amazing mother; she would never do anything to hurt Beth."

"That's why I need to get into that house to put this stuff in her cabinets. I'll call child protective services and they'll find all of this and then I'll get Beth back."

"You're crazy." I shook my head. "I'm not helping you frame another person. Do you know how devastated Shelby would be if you took her daughter away from her?"

"She's not Shelby's daughter, she's mine!"

"Quinn, listen to yourself. You don't want to do this. What would you even do if you had to raise Beth? You need to focus on school, on getting into college. Not a child."

Quinn slumped and suddenly she was in tears. I hugged her though I wasn't sure if she was faking it or not. "I don't want to mess up Beth's life."

"You love her; you just don't know how to be a mother right now. That's ok; you're 18 you shouldn't have to know."

"You're always an amazing friend even when you hate me," Quinn said trying to wipe up some of her tears.

"I don't hate you Quinn; we've been best friends since we were little. I can't hate you. I'm just not sure if I can trust you yet."

"Can I at least see her?"

"No, I don't think that's a good idea. You need to talk to Shelby first, do this right."

Quinn nodded. "I'll try." She walked off the porch steps and I slumped against the door. I took a breath before going back inside.

"Rhea, are you ok?" Puck asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be fine."

OoOoO

"Dad, can we talk about your class?" I asked the next afternoon. I was going to over to his and Emma's apartment for dinner.

"What about it?" He asked.

"We've been doing the same thing for months; everyone in class is ready to move on. Is there a reason you haven't taught anything new?"

He looked embarrassed. "You know I wanted to be a history teacher?"

"Really?"

"Yeah I don't even know Spanish."

"I can tell. I bet we could sign you up for some night classes, and I could tutor you too."

"I've reached a new low, getting tutored by my teenage daughter who is in the class I'm teaching."

"Hey, it's cool. We can start now. Let's start with the past tense…no, the imperfect tense. There are less irregular verbs in the imperfect."

"What does that do?"

"It talks about things in the past but things that continue. Like you weren't 20 once you were 20 for a while. So it would be Tú tenías viente años. The –ar verb endings are –aba, -abas, -aba, -ábamos, and –aban. Like me gustaba bailar."

"Maybe you should wait till I'm somewhere with a pen and paper. How do you even know all of that?"

"I was in honors Spanish at LaGuardia," I said shrugging. "But seriously if you need any help, ask me. I could help you with lessons and everything. I'm not totally fluent but we'd be able to move on from present tense."

"Maybe I'll sign up for some of those night classes."

"Good idea," I said laughing.

"I had something to talk to you about too," Will said.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to propose to Emma soon-"

"Oh my god!" I squealed.

"I was hoping you would be the maid of honor in the wedding."

"Will Emma mind?"

"She's already picked out some dresses for you. So will you?"

"Of course I will!" I said.

"I wish you could be there for the proposal but I know you're going on vacation with your mom for a few weeks so you'll probably be out of town."

"I'm still sorry about that, I had no idea mom would schedule our vacation the week of sectionals. Though I could tell Rachel wasn't upset in the slightest."

"You and Rachel really should work out your issues. You're a lot alike."

I snorted. "You're joking right? I'm nothing like Rachel."

"You're both determined to succeed and you're passionate about what you love. She may be a little over the top but you also know how to get what you want; you just use more subtle tactics."

OoOoO

That weekend was Tanssia's performance. Brittany had finally come up with Love You Like a Love Song for her last piece and each of hers, all danced by a small fleet of Cheerios, were fun, upbeat and made you want to get on your feet and dance. Mike had used popular songs and set smooth hip hop routines to them. My songs were indie and slower and showcased modern dance.

Tina had designed the costumes and she was going crazy over every little detail. "Rhea!" She shouted as I tried to apply my wing eyeliner, my hand shook messing up the line again.

"Crap!"

"Sorry, but you really need to help me. Brittany is pitching a fit over the outfits in Whole Lotta Love because they aren't sparkly enough."

"If they get anymore sparkles the dancers will look like walking disco balls. They look fine as they are."

"Jason, one of Mike's dancers is complaining that he doesn't like having to wear a leather jacket in Fine By Me," she said checking her list.

"That jacket is a prop he uses at least four times in that piece; he has to wear the jacket. Anything else?"

"The girl Mike was using in You Belong with Me got in a fight with one of Brittany's girls from Stay the Night, she quit."

"She quit!" I squealed. Tina nodded.

"Mike wants to know if you know the choreography well enough to do that piece with him."

"Why can't Brittany do it?" I asked trying to put my liner on again.

"She'll be trying to change for Whole Lotta Love," she said, biting her eraser as she checked the set list.

"Ugh ok, well I know the dance. I can do it. I don't know if I'll fit in that outfit though."

"I have an extra pair of pants that you can borrow that look almost identical."

"Ok, well I guess all problems are fixed. Can I go back to doing my liner now?" I asked. Tina nodded and turned around to go bug someone else or yell at some dancers. That girl was just meant to be a stage manager.

"Hey," Puck said sitting next to me.

"Hey," I said smiling. I leaned over and kissed him.

"How you feeling?"

"Excited and nervous. Mostly excited."

"You're going to do great; everything is going to be perfect."

"I hope so." He gave me a hug and kissed my forehead.

"You might want to fix that eyeliner though."

I glanced in the mirror to see that the wing had smudged halfway down my cheek. "Seriously, I give up."

Puck laughed. "I'll see you after the show."

I cleaned up my eyeliner and then got into my costume for the first dance. I was wearing a light pink mid length dress for I'll Be, which I'd decided would be a solo. It was the opener which was good because everyone else was still rushing around trying to get ready and curtain was in five minutes. I got into place and waited until I heard Tina on stage giving the curtain speech. Then the music faded in, the curtain was pulled back and the lights came up and the show began.

After I'll Be came Stay the Night staring the Cheerios and a few of the guys. I had planned on standing in the wings and watching this one but I had to change costumes for You Belong with Me which was up next. "Want to run through the steps?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, I might need a refresher. Have I mentioned I really hate people? Cause I do." We did a speed through and then got ready to go on stage. I tried to focus on the steps and was super glad this was like lyrical hip hop and not crunking or something. I was not built to stomp and lock, I was about lines and gracefulness. By the time I knew it the piece was over and thankfully I hadn't actually died.

Brittany's Whole Lotta Love was up next and then my Kids in Love piece. Followed by the Heartbeat Slowing Down dance I'd premiered at the sing off. Mike and Brittany's last two dances, Fine by Me and Love You Like A Love Song wrapped up our individual choreographed pieces.

The last dance was a mashup of Love the Way You Lie, Dynamite, and Teenage Dream. We had debated for several days over how to represent our glee club in this performance before actually starting to choreograph it. We ended up coming up with the best memories of each couple, and major fights. Somehow we'd managed to convert those bits into a comprehensive story of us. I doubted anyone would understand the dance but our club but it looked pretty.

After the show Puck came backstage and brought me flowers. "Thanks," I said kissing him again.

"You looked great, I didn't know you were doing hip hop now."

"I didn't know I was either," I said. I filled him in on all the backstage drama and he laughed.

"Sounds like you dancer types are just a problematic as us glee types."

"I guess we are. I wish I wasn't going to have to miss the musical next week. I want to see you."

"My mom said she'll tape it for you," Puck said. "She'll probably want to watch it with you ten times."

"I love your mother," I said smiling.

"Good cause she's pretty attached to me keeping you around."


	13. Chapter 13

"Rhea, I'm just trying to do what is best for the club," Rachel said in a very condescending tone.

"I'm sorry if our ideas for what is best for this club differ," I snapped. Zoom out on another typical scene in the choir room; it was just me and Rachel arguing over the solos, an almost weekly occurrence it seemed. "We decided at Nationals, if we lost I got the solos this year. Last time I checked, we lost."

"You can have the solo if we make it to Nationals," she said waving her hand at me.

I rolled my eyes. "There will be some reason why I can't have it then either. It's a never ending cycle with you."

"That isn't true. I promise th-"

I cut her off. "Don't make promises you can't keep, that'll probably keep you up at night." I sighed. "You want the solo? Fine, you can have it. I quit. At least this is one decision I can actually make for myself."

"Quit! You can't quit!" She sputtered.

"What's the point of staying here? Everyone knows I didn't even want to join when I first came back here for a long list of reasons, but I was basically tricked into it by my dad. Just like I was basically tricked into becoming head cheerleader, a position I've still managed to keep despite not even trying. At least Sue knows I'm good and she uses my talent, here I'm just another waste of space in the Rachel Show just like everybody else." I turned around and walked out. I couldn't even begin to count the number of times I'd stormed out of the choir room after an argument with Rachel.

"Hey, stop," Santana said from behind me. "You should join the Troubletones."

"The Troubletones lost sectionals," I said.

"Mr. Schue said we could have one song in every competition as part of New Directions. You can have my solo."

"Tana, I'm not going to take your solo. I don't want to be a bitch. I know that I've been acting like an over entitled brat pretty much ever since I got here but I just can't deal with her anymore."

"You aren't being a brat, well maybe a little. But you're the only one that stands up to her constantly, I'll snap at her every once and a while but you're the only one who actually wants to stir up some change in there."

"Yeah, well, I'd probably end up being just as much as a dictator as Rachel. I'd probably make everyone dance too." We both started giggling.

"C'mon, Re, we need you. You said yourself Rachel's not helping us win."

"Could've had something to do with that impromptu kiss on stage," I mused.

"That too. But really, you can have my part. It's not like I plan on pursuing music or anything, maybe I'll be an actress or keep going with this cheerleading thing. You'll probably become the next Jenifer Lopez and have awesome tours where you dance a ton; except minus the Latino part, that's my department."

"Are you sure?"

She sighed. "Everyone is going to kill me if I have to go back in there and tell them you really quit, even Rachel looked upset. Would you please take my part before I have to drag you back in there kicking and screaming?"

I laughed. "Fine." She looped her arm through mine and led me back into the choir room. Everyone looked up when we open the door and smiled when they saw me following Santana.

Puck put his arm around my waist. "I think you broke a new record, shortest time someone has quit the glee club for."

"I think I also have broken the record for number of doors slammed."

"That too," he said laughing quietly.

"Well, if we're going to win this, we need to get to work," Rachel said. She looked at me sheepishly, as if she actually felt bad. Who knew, maybe she did.

OoOoO

The next day I was sitting in history texting Kurt under the table. While I was on vacation a lot had happened in my dad's life. He had proposed to Emma, like he had told me he was planning. Emma had called me the next day to officially ask me to be her maid of honor, obviously I told her yes. He had signed up to take those Spanish classes I'd been recommending and then after deciding Spanish was hopeless, ended up taking the vacant history teaching position instead.

My phone buzzed, I glanced down to see another text from Kurt. 'Did you hear about Dave?"

"My dad told me this morning. We're having an emergency glee meeting to talk about it."

"I feel like I could have done something."

"Don't blame yourself."

"Rhea," my dad said. "If you wouldn't mind reading the top paragraph on page 346." I slid my phone in my pocket and glanced at my text book. My dad had yet to bust me for texting in class but that didn't mean he particularly liked me doing it either.

OoOoO

That afternoon the entire glee club had assembled in the auditorium. We all sat in a circle on the ground. I sat in between Quinn and Puck. Mr. Schue came in and joined us. "I know you've all heard about Dave by now. I've talked to Principal Figgins and he says that Dave is fine and he's going to be released in a few days." There was a collective sigh of relief. "I wanted to talk to you guys because I know that as teenagers everything seems so hard. You don't think about the future the way you should. All of you are going to graduate and be successful and I can't wait to see what every single one of you is going to accomplish. I want you all to promise that no matter how hard it gets or how lost you feel, you won't ever consider doing what Dave did."

"Mr. Shue, I know we're crazy dramatic and World War 3 happens every time Rachel and Rhea are in a room together and we all need fallout shelters because of them, but none of us would ever consider killing ourselves," Mercedes said.

"I did once," my dad told her.

"I did too," I said quietly. Puck looked at me and all I did was stare at my folded knees.

"I want all of you to tell me one thing you're looking forward to, something that you can hold on to when you're feeling lost," Mr. Schue said. He went around the circle and there were all sorts of answers, from the serious, like Sam wanting to be able to support his family, to the silly, like Sugar who wanted to see Sex and the City part 3.

"I'm looking forward to graduating from high school," Puck said. I smiled at him.

"I'm looking forward to going to Julliard and finding out what the rest of the world has for me," I said.

OoOoO

A few days later at Regionals we all were waiting in the choir room for our turn which was coming up very soon. "Finn and I have an announcement," Rachel said.

"This should be good," Santana mumbled.

"Everything that's happened recently has made me look at things differently and I decided that life is too short to wait." Rachel was rambling and everyone looked at her waiting. "Finn and I are getting married after Regionals."

I glanced around the room to see if everyone else was as shocked about this news as I was. "We want you all to come," Finn added. After everyone had dispersed to do any last minute adjustments, Rachel came up to me with a box.

"What is this?" I asked.

"A peace offering. I want you to be one of my bridesmaids. I know we haven't gotten along in the past, but I want to change that or at least try to."

"You're serious?"

"I know that I've been really unpleasant, I've just been jealous ok? You're talented and pretty and everyone likes you and I just wanted the spotlight because I didn't think it was fair. I realize I'm the one who's not being fair, not just to you but to the other girls as well. Everyone deserves an equal chance, that's what this club is all about." She handed me the box before turning and walking back to Finn.

Puck came up to me and motioned at the box. "What's that?"

"Bridesmaid dress," I said.

"What?"

"Yeah, I was surprised too. I don't think they should be getting married. They're too young; life is short but so is being young. Statistically younger couples are more likely to get a divorce down the line than couples that wait longer."

"So you don't want to be a bridesmaid?"

"I don't think I can even go to that wedding. I wouldn't marry you, if you asked me right now. I love you, but there is no way I'm getting married at 18."

"Keeping your options open?" He joked.

"Yeah," I said with a laugh.

"Rhea, Puck, it's time!" Sam called.

OoOoO

After we won Regionals I quickly told Puck that I would see him on Monday and then went home, stopping only for a milkshake. I turned my phone off before I even left the auditorium so I wouldn't have to see a million texts from Rachel asking why I wasn't going to her wedding. When I got inside I went to my room and fell asleep within minutes.

The next morning I woke up and turned my phone on and saw I had a ton of notifications. Four missed calls from Rachel, seven from Puck, two from Finn, eleven from Santana and three from Brittany. I couldn't believe I had gotten that many calls all because I'd missed a stupid wedding. I returned Puck's call but got his voicemail so I tried Santana next.

"Thank god, where have you been?" She answered of the first ring.

"In bed, asleep. What's up, Tana, did someone die?" I waited for the sarcastic laugh but it didn't come. "Wait, no one died did they?"

"Quinn was in an accident on the way to Rachel's wedding. She was texting while driving and she got hit by a truck."

"Oh my god," I said. I didn't comprehend exactly what Santana said next.

"Rhea, are you listening to me?"

"Is she ok?" I asked quietly.

"She's alive. They said she'll have to be in a wheelchair, for at least a little while."

"Can I see her?" I asked.

"She doesn't want to talk to anyone right now. I'll call you if that changes, there's no reason for you to come down here right now." I could hear someone else talking to her and then I heard the phone rustle as it changed hands.

"Hey," Puck said. "I'm going to come by, alright?"

"Yeah."

"Everything is going to be alright," he told me calmly. If I didn't know him as well as I did, his calmness might have fooled me, but I knew when he was putting on an act. I mumbled an answer and hung up. I got up and went into the kitchen. I got a glass of water and sat down on the couch in front of the TV.

When Puck found me, I was still sitting on the couch staring at the blank television. "Hey," I said quietly. He sat down next to me, took the glass out of my hand and put it on the table. "Any news?"

"She still refuses to see anyone. She's being stubborn, you know how Quinn is."

"She could have died. She could have died and I wouldn't have known."

"You couldn't have done anything about it, none of us could have. We didn't know she was going to wreck." He rubbed my back soothingly.

"She wouldn't have wrecked if it weren't for Rachel," I told him.

"It isn't Rachel's fault either. Quinn shouldn't have been looking at her phone."

"Yeah, let's blame it on the girl who could be paralyzed."

"Rhea, stop. You know I'm not blaming Quinn, but you shouldn't be blaming Rachel either. Or anyone else, for that matter."

I started crying, Puck pulled me closer and let me cry on his shoulder. "She could have died," I repeated.

"But she didn't, alright? She's alive and she'll be better."

"You can't promise that."

"You know Quinn, there's no way she'll let this stop her."


End file.
